Conference yukon::christian_v7

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: 'Doctor Death' saga takes bizarre turn
Date: Fri, 26 Feb 93 17:49:54 PST

	ROYAL OAK, Mich. (UPI) -- A garbage-stained document retrieved by an
anti-abortion activist could lead to murder charges against euthanasia
advocate Dr. Jack Kevorkian, prosecutors said.
	The transcript, purportedly signed by Kevorkian, said Hugh Gale, 70,
twice asked Kevorkian to take off the mask that fed him carbon monoxide
before he died Feb. 15 in his Roseville home.
	Police raided Keborkian's Royal Oak home Thursday night and found
what they said appeared to be another version of the transcript that had
been doctored to exclude Gale's second request to remove the mask.
	Kevorkian's lawyers denounced the findings as a lie.
	Gale, a retired merchant mariner with heart disease and emphysema,
was the 13th of the 15 people who have ended their lives with
Kevorkian's assistance since June 1990.
	``If these documents prove to be authentic, this clearly moves this
out of the realm of assisted suicide,'' said Macomb County Prosecutor
Carl Marlinga. ``If the deceased did not want to die, it changes the
case completely.''
	Marlinga said he expects to decide next week whether to charge
Kevorkian with murder after Kevorkian's signature is checked by a
handwriting expert.
	Lynn Mills, an activist with the militant anti-abortion group
Operation Rescue, said she found the document in the trash of a long-
time Kevorkian assistant last week and gave it to Oakland County
Prosecutor Richard Thompson.
	``This takes this case, this death, out of the realm of assisted
suicide and makes it a homicide case,'' said Thompson, who has been
unable to prosecute Kevorkian because Michigan, until Thursday, had no
law banning assisted suicide.
	The transcripts surfaced just hours after Gov. John Engler signed
legislation making a ban on assisted suicide effective immediately. The
law, passed late last year, was originally scheduled to take effect
March 30. It makes it a four-year felony for anyone to help another
person commit suicide.
	The American Civil Liberties Union plans to file suit challenging the
law on Monday.
	In the trash-stained transcript, Kevorkian wrote that while Gale was
inhaling carbon monoxide he asked to stop, by crying: ``Take it off!'' A
tent and the gas mask were removed and an oxygen tube was turned on.
Then, the document said, the poisonous carbon monoxide was resumed at
Gale's request. He asked a second time for the mask to be removed, but
was ignored, according to the transcript.
	Based on that, the prosecutors obtained search warrants for
Kevorkian's downtown Royal Oak apartment and assistant Neal Nicol's
Waterford Township home late Thursday.
	Thompson said the transcript found in Kevorkian's home showed
Kevorkian apparently used typewriter correction fluid to obliterate the
reference to Gale's second request to remove the mask. But viewing the
altered copy under enhanced lighting, the words found on the original
were apparent, he said.
	Fieger said Friday the document found in the trash is innacurate.
	``He (Kevorkian) wrote that document. It was inaccurate and he threw
it away a week ago because the other document actually showed what
happened,'' he said.
	At a news conference Thursday night, Nicol and Gale's wife, Cheryl,
who both were present at Gale's death, and Fieger denied that Gale
pleaded for his life, as the anti-abortion group contends. They also
denied he asked twice that the mask be removed.
	``That's an absolute lie -- it never happened,'' Fieger said. ``Dr.
Kevorkian did not falsify his own documents. They broke into Dr.
Kevorkian's house and took his documents. Then they broke into Mr.
Nicol's house. This is an outrageous abuse of civil power.''
	Mills and a nationwide coalition of anti-abortion groups called the
Christian Defense Coalition have spent the past two weeks outside
Kevorkian's home, but denied Fieger's charges they were ``stalking''
him. Fieger called them ``religious nuts.''
	Mills, of Livonia, is no stranger to documents found in trash. She
once was sued for publicizing the names of two teenagers seeking
abortions after their names were found in an abortion clinic's trash.
	Operation Rescue issued a press release Thursday headlined: 
``Kevorkian's 13th Victim Hugh Gale Killed After He Begs Kevorkian to
Stop.''
	Meanwhile, Kevorkian said in a copyright interview published in
Friday's Detroit News that he's willing to go on a hunger strike and die
in support of his cause -- medically assisted suicides.
	``It's my life against your law,'' he vowed. ``How's it going to
look, them pulling me into court on a stretcher? All skinny and
emaciated?''
	He said he is ready to face arrest, imprisonment and death in his
crusade to help fulfill a suffering patient's wish to die.``

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: At least five dead, 15 injured in two shootouts at cult compound
Date: Mon, 1 Mar 93 3:12:33 PST

	WACO, Texas (UPI) -- Two gunfights about nine hours apart on a
religious cult's heavily-fortified farm compound in central Texas left
at least five people dead and 15 wounded as federal agents attempted to
serve a warrant on a firearms charge, authorities said.
	Four agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms died
Sunday after arriving at hospitals in Waco, 10 miles from the scene of
the first bloody shootout about 9:30 a.m. CST, officials said.
	Those killed in the attack were: Steve Willis, 32, of Houston; Robert
J. Williams, 26, Little Rock, Ark.; Conway LeBleu, 30, New Orleans; and
Todd McKeehan, 28, New Orleans.
	Seven of the wounded were hospitalized, some in serious condition
from wounds apparently inflicted by large caliber weapons, authorities
said. At least one agent was listed in critical condition. Eight other
agents were treated and released.
	The second gunfight occurred about 6 p.m. CST, said ATF spokesman Les
Standford in the agency's Washington headquarters.
	``Three armed members from inside the compound came out shooting. One
was killed, one was wounded and is possibly dead - we can't get to him,
and one is in custody,'' Stanford said.
	Stanford said details on the second shootout were not immediately
available.
	He confirmed, however, that at least one ATF agent was hit by gunfire
from a 50-caliber machinegun, which is a large caliber military weapon
used against tanks, troops and aircraft.
	ATF Special Agent in Charge Ted Royster of Dallas told a news
conference there were reports of injuries inside the compound, but no
one inside had requested medical attention. Negotiations continued
throughout the night.
	``We want to bring the situation to an end. There are ongoing
negotiations between negotiators and Mr. Koresh (the leader). We want to
get his people out of there first. We have constant telephone contact.''
	Royster said there were 70 to 75 people in the compound. About 30 are
males, eight are juveniles, the rest are females.
	ATF asked Dallas radio station KRLD to broadcast a statement so it
could be heard in the compound. It read, ``ATF will not initiate any
aggressive action. Negotiations are going on and both parties are
seeking a peaceful resolution of the situation.''
	Royster said ATF had been investigating the cult for nearly eight
months and the raid had been planned for weeks. He said gunfire erupted
before agents could make any verbal contact with those inside.
	``We practiced for it. They drilled over and over again, and we had
our plan down... we had a diversion down. All went into effect, and they
were waiting,'' he said.
	``We know of them buying firearms, and we have heard of explosives at
the compound,'' ATF spokesman Tom Hill said in Washington. ``We went out
there to serve the warrant and look for the devices.''
	The warrant named Vernon Howell, who also uses the name David Koresh,
according to Royster. He is the 33-year-old charismatic leader of the 75
so-called Branch Davidians who live in the 77-acre Mount Carmel
compound.
	In a telephone interview with CNN, Howell said he was ``shot in
several places.'' Asked how he was feeling, Howell said: ``Weakening.''
Several times during the interview, his voice broke and his breathing
was labored.
	He said he had given authorities a message to be broadcast over an
area radio station. ``''We'll send two children out every time they play
the message,`` Howell said. ''I'll send two children out every time
until they're all gone.``
	By early Monday morning six children had been released by Howell.
	Asked if his followers inside the compound were well armed, Howell
said, ``Yeah, we're heavily armed.'' He declined to reveal any details
of weapons inside the compound.
	The siege began when 150 to 200 federal, state and local law officers
arrived to serve the warrant and look for illegal firearms or explosive
devices at the fortress-like compound equipped with a watch tower.
	When the officers arrived, backed up by three helicopters, they were
met with immediate gunfire, Royster said. Officers dressed in bullet-
proof vests and carrying shields stormed the compound and a 30-minute
gunfight broke out.
	Royster said after the initial gunfight, a ceasefire was negotiated
with Howell to allow the ATF to remove its wounded from the
headquarters. 
	Heavily-armed ATF agents picked up and carried their wounded from the
compound. Some of the injured were placed atop the hoods of ATF vehicles
for transport to where helicopters could airlift them to Waco hospitals.
	Two of the helicopters were hit by gunfire, Royster said, apparently
from a semi-automatic AR-15 rifle.
	Dramatic KWTX-TV videotape showed one ATF officer lying on the roof
next to a window after two other officers had gone inside. A torrent of
gunfire ripped through the wall and he rolled down the roof to a ladder
to escape.
	KWTX-TV reporter John McLemore, who witnessed the firefight with a
camerman, said he used his vehicle to transport three wounded federal
agents from the scene of the bloody battle after officers yelled for
help.
	``Somebody yelled 'Hey, television get an ambulance.' I ran back to
the truck, and then I heard a couple of shots hit the truck. I called my
news director and told him we need every ambulance you can get out here,
'' he said.
	The cult moved to the Waco area many years ago and came to public
attention this weekend with a copyright series published in the The Waco
Tribune-Herald.
	The cult, estimated at about 75 members male and female, is awaiting
the end of the world, the newspaper reported. Howell, the latest leader
of the cult that moved from Los Angeles in 1935, claims to be Christ.
	Former members of the cult told the Tribune-Herald that Howell abuses
both adult and child members of the cult and claims at least 15 wives.
Howell denies these charges, saying he has had only two children. 
	The Branch Davidians is an old off-shoot of the Seventh-day Adventist
Church, but the Seventh-Day Adventist Church strongly denies any
connection with Howell's group which was founded in 1934 by Victor
Houteff.
	At Fort Worth, a spokesman for the Seventh Day Adventist Church said
they have no connection with Howell's group and deplore what happened
near Waco.
	Cyrill Miller, president of the church's southwest region, said, 
``There are absolutely no connections whatsoever with the Seventh-Day
Adventist Church -- never have been and never will be.''
	Local welfare workers visited the cult's compound at least twice last
year to talk to the children there, former cult members told the
Tribune-Herald. Juvenile officils refused to discuss details of their
investigation.
	Howell and his followers believe he is the lamb referred to in the
Bible's book of Revelation, the newspaper said. His followers say he
alone can open the so-called Seven Seals, setting loose events that the
Branch Davidians believe will end mankind and propel Howell and his
followers into heaven.
	Howell told the Tribune-Herald, ``If the Bible is true, then I'm
Christ. But so what? Look at 2,000 years ago. What's so great about
being Christ? A man nailed to the cross. A man of sorrow acquainted with
grief. You know, being Christ ain't nothing. Know what I mean? ... If
the Bible is true, I'm Christ. If the Bible is true. But all I want out
of this is for people to be honest this time.''
	The cult was founded in Los Angeles when Houteff left the Seventh-Day
Adventist Church because his interpretation of the book of Revelation
disagreed with the church's view. It has had several leaders and
divisions since Houteff's death in 1955.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: 'Dr. Death' says watching someone die isn't easy
Date: Mon, 1 Mar 93 6:56:59 PST

	ROYAL OAK, Mich. (UPI) -- Euthanasia advocate Dr. Jack Kevorkian, who
has helped 15 people die since June 1990, says it isn't easy watching
someone die.
	The retired pathologist is quoted in the latest Newsweek magazine as
saying tears came to his eyes several times as he helped people commit
suicide.
	``These are not happy moments. The ending of a human life can never
be a good moment,'' he said.
	Kevorkian told the magazine none of the people he has helped showed a
fear of death. Newsweek's March 8 issue went on sale Monday.
	``I've had all kinds of religions and not one wanted a religious
consultation. Religion is totally irrelevant to what they want,'' he
said.
	Kevorkian and his attorneys have accused religious conservatives of
forcing their values on Michigan citizens by helping push through a ban
on assisted suicide.
	The ban originally was scheduled to take effect March 30, but on
Thursday, lawmakers moved up the effective date, and Gov. John Engler
signed it into immediate law. Violators can be sentenced to up to four
years in prison and fined $2,000.
	The American Civil Liberties Union planned to file a lawsuit Monday
against the law, which Kevorkian has vowed to defy.
	``I will help a suffering human being at the right time when the
patient's condition warrants it, despite anything else,'' he said in the
interview at his attorney's office. ``That's what a doctor should so.''
	Last week, a member of the Operation Rescue anti-abortion group
retrieved a document from the trash of a Kevorkian assistant that casts
doubt on whether the 13th person he assisted really wanted to do.
	The report suggests that Hugh Gale, 70, of Roseville, twice demanded
that a mask delivering lethal carbon monoxide be removed on Feb. 15.
Kevorkian's attorney, Geoffrey Fieger, said it was an incorrect copy.
	Macomb County Prosecutor Carl Marlinga is deciding whether to file
homicide charges against Kevorkian based on the trash-stained document.
	Gale's son, Hugh E. Gale Jr., a Mobile, Ala., insurance adjuster,
said Sunday he is grateful Kevorkian ended his father's pain and doesn't
believe his father's suicide should be questioned.
	``He's really gone out on a limb and look what he's going through,''
Gale, 38, said in a telephone interview with the Detroit News. ``Either
he's a raving lunatic or he's very strongly committed to helping people.
I'm thankful my dad's suffering was finally ended.
	The elder Gale, a former merchant marine and security guard, suffered
from heart problems and emphsyema.
	Right-to-Life members picketed Kevorkian's suburban Detroit apartment
last week.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Picture of Jesus stays, but it's covered
Date: Mon, 1 Mar 93 6:23:03 PST

	BLOOMINGDALE, Mich. (UPI) -- The 2-foot by 3-foot framed print of
Jesus still hangs in a corridor at Bloomingdale High School, as it has
for 30 years -- but it was shrouded Monday in keeping with a federal
judge's order.
	On Feb. 3, U.S. District Judge Benjamin Gibson told the school to
remove the picture by March 1. Later, he said it could remain, as long
as it is covered, while school officials appeal his ruling.
	School Board President James Dickerson said the picture was covered
in red and white fabric at 11:59 p.m. Sunday while a group of neighbors
staged a candlelight vigil outside the school.
	Artist Warner Sallman's ``Head of Christ'' has hung near the
intersection of two main hallways since it was donated to the school in
the 1960s.
	But Eric Pensinger, a 17-year-old senior, sued to have it removed,
charging that it is an endorsement of Christianity and therefore
violates the constitutional separation of church and state.
	On Friday, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the school's
request for an emergency stay of Gibson's order. No date has been set
for the appeal to be heard.
	Pensinger said he has faced considerable hostility from his fellow
students in the conservative west Michigan community.
	``I've been called everything you could possibly think of -- a devil-
worshiper and everything,'' he said. I get a lot of letters telling me
to read the Bible and telling me my mom's bringing me up wrong.``
	A group called Bloomingdale Fights Back has been raising money to pay
the district's legal expenses.
	``While we are happy that the picture isn't being taken down, we are
unhappy it has to be covered,'' said Cheryl Sullins, a member of the
group. ``There is considerable support for the school board and we're
very glad they are appealing the case.''

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Cultists believe their leader can open mysterious Seven Seals
Date: Mon, 1 Mar 93 9:35:05 PST

	WACO, Texas (UPI) -- Members of the Branch Davidian sect believe their
leader, David Koresh, is Christ and has the God-given authority to open
the Seven Seals described in the book of Revelation.
	During interviews that followed Sunday's gunbattle with federal
agents, Koresh made repeated references to the Seven Seals, which
describe mayhem and a catastrophic end to the earth.
	Revelation, believed to have been written by St. John the Devine,
describes a vision in which the Lamb of God opens the seals on a scroll.
	According to Reformed Dogmatics, a book by Herman Hoeksema, John sees
a white horse when the first seal is opened. The horse represents the
progress of the kingdom of God through the preaching of the gospel.
	With the second seal, John sees a red horse, which signifies war and
political strife.
	The third seal reveals a black horse with a rider holding a pair of
scales, symbolizing the difference between scarcity and luxury in the
social world.
	When he opens the fourth seal, John sees a pale horse representing
all forms of death from homicide and suicide to fires and epidemics.
	The fifth seal reveals those slain for the word of God crying for the
speedy coming of the final judgment.
	The opening of the sixth seal triggers the physicial breakdown of the
universe.
	With the opening of the seventh seal, seven angels appear before God
with seven trumpets, which leads to the opening of seven vials that
constitute the wrath of God on earth.
	Dr. Charles Wood, professor of theology at Southern Methodist
University, said Monday that Revelation is often the basis of cults like
the Davidians.
	Wood said, ``It is a book that is quite attractive to a number of
sects and cults because it is so mysterious, and lends itself to so many
strange interpretations. People can hit upon an odder reference and
invent an entire religion.''
	The sect was formed at Los Angeles in 1934 by Victor Houteff after a
dispute with the Seventh-day Adventist Church over the interpretation of
Revelation.
	The cult moved to the Waco area in 1935 and came to public attention
this weekend with a copyright series published in the The Waco Tribune-
Herald.
	The cult is awaiting the end of the world, the newspaper series said.
Howell, the latest leader of the cult that moved from Los Angeles in
1935, claims to be Christ. He assumed leadership in the mid 1980's.
	Former members told the newspaper that Howell abuses both adult and
child members and claims at least 15 wives. Howell confessed in Sunday
interviews that he is a polygamist and has many children, but denied
abusing children.
	The Seventh-day Adventist Church strongly denies any connection with
Howell's group.
	At Fort Worth, Seventh-day Adventist Church spokesman Cyrill Miller
said they have no connection with Howell's group and deplore what
happened.
	``There are absolutely no connections whatsoever with the Seventh-day
Adventist Church -- never have been and never will be,'' he said.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Canadian judges rules bare breasts not indecent
Date: Mon, 1 Mar 93 12:26:10 PST

	KITCHENER, Ontario (UPI) -- A Canadian judge ruled Monday that five
women did not commit an indecent act when they went topless to protest
cover-up laws they say treat men and women differently.
	Justice Katie McGowan found the women not guilty, saying they did
nothing lewd or suggestive and were acting ``in the context of a civil
protest and that is not beyond the Canadian standard of tolerance.''
	The women were participating in a rally in a public park protesting
the indecency conviction of university student Gwen Jacob, who walked
down the street topless on a hot summer day in 1991. A number of topless
men at the rally were not charged.
	McGowan said Jacob's case is different than the five women before her
because Jacob's case was handled in a higher court and because Jacob was
just one person walking down the street.
	It was not immediately known if the prosecutor would appeal McGowan's
ruling. Kitchener is about 30 miles west of Toronto.
	One of the acquitted women said the ruling was a victory over
discriminatory laws.
	``I think we brought attention to the fact that women so far have not
been treated equally under the law and that we will not tolerate this
anymore,'' said Anne Hansen, 34.
	``The courts won't treat women differently and women won't accept
being treated differently,'' Hansen said.
	Lawyer Clayton Ruby, who represented the five women, said McGowan's
ruling could mean women will be allowed to bare their breasts wherever
they want.
	Women's groups complained about what they said is a double standard
that makes it legal for women go topless in strip clubs for money, but
illegal for them do it in public places for free.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Five die in church van-dump truck accident
Date: Tue, 2 Mar 93 16:17:12 PST

	ATHENS, Ga. (UPI) -- A van filled with members of a church seniors
group returning from a breakfast outing was sideswiped by a skidding
dump truck Tuesday, sending the van spinning wildly and killing five of
the occupants.
	At least 10 other occupants of the van were injured, some seriously.
They were being treated at the Athens Regional Medical Center.
	Monroe County authorities said the members of the seniors group at
Meadow Baptist Church in Comer had finished breakfast at a Shoney's
restaurant and were returning to the church.
	The van was driving north on rain-slick Georgia 29, about five miles
north of Athens, when the southbound dump truck swerved over the center
line and sideswiped the van. The collision caused the van to roll over
several times, throwing some of the occupants out.
	The dump truck driver said a car slowed in front of him and he
applied his brakes to avoid a collision. The brakes apparently locked,
sending the truck into a skid.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: MTM chief to leave when Pat Robertson takes over
Date: Wed, 3 Mar 93 13:28:28 PST

	LOS ANGELES (UPI) -- MTM Entertainment said Wednesday that its chief
executive officer will resign when televangelist Pat Roberston completes
his $90 million acquisition of the television-production company.
	Bob Klosterman, who MTM named as CEO some two years ago to streamline
its operations, said he will leave his post to pursue other interests
once Robertson's International Family Entertainment closes a deal for
MTM and its British parent, TVS Entertainment PLC.
	Robertson's company has already acquired 95 percent of TVS's stock,
and plans to close its acquisition in the near future.
	Klosterman joined MTM in 1991 following TVS's failure to find a buyer
willing to meet its price for MTM, which currently produces ``The New
WKRP in Cincinnati'' and ``Evening Shade.''
	However, Virginia-based International Family Entertainment, which
operates the Family Channel cable network, later came forward to buy the
company.
	Robertson's operation plans to split MTM into two divisions -- one for
distribution and the other for production.
	Charles Larsen, a Republic Pictures distribution executive, will
become president of MTM worldwide distribution, while Bill Allen will
continue to serve as president of MTM Television.
	Both will report to Pat Robertson's son, Tim, chief executive officer
of International Family Entertainment.
	In a statement Wednesday, Tim Robertson said Klosterman ``was
appointed to successfully hold the company together until it was sold.
He has done a tremendous job of moving MTM forward despite extremely
difficult circumstances.''
	Meanwhile, International Family Entertainment announced plans to
consolidate MTM's financial and administrative staff once the
acquisition goes through. An MTM spokesman said the move will cost some
15 or 17 of the company's 75 staffers their jobs.
	Los Angeles-based MTM's assets include a library of such programs as
``The Mary Tyler Moore Show.'' The company moved into first-run
syndication of its programs during Klosterman's tenure.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: FFRF says abolish Congress' chaplains
Date: Thu, 4 Mar 93 14:14:26 PST

	MADISON, Wis. (UPI) -- A Madison atheist group was quick to respond to
President Clinton's call for suggestions from citizens on how to cut fat
from the federal government.
	``Abolish federal chaplaincies, starting immediately with the
congressional chaplains,'' Annie Laurie Gaylor, the editor of the
Freedom From Religion Foundation's newspaper Freethought Today, wrote in
a letter to the president.
	``In return for a two-minute prayer to open sessions of Congress,
taxpayers are paying more than $115,000 each to Rev. Ricahrd Halverson,
chaplain of the U.S. Senate, and Rev. James P. Ford, chaplain of the U.
S. House of Representatives.''
	There are plenty of churches and clergymen in Washington members of
Congress could go to if they needed their services, she said.
	Gaylor said there are thousands of chaplains on the public payroll in
other programs.
	She said that ``in time of unprecedented poverty and burgeoning
national debt, these unconstitutional chaplaincies should be abolished.''

From: [email protected] (CHARLES RIDLEY)
Subject: Pope blames lack of faith in God for horrors such as war in Bosnia
Date: Sun, 7 Mar 93 9:57:04 PST

	VATICAN CITY (UPI) -- Pope John Paul II, in another anguished appeal
for an end to the civil war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, blamed a lack of
faith in God Sunday for such ``horrifying violations of human dignity.''
	Addressing some 20,000 pilgrims and tourists gathered in chilly but
sunlit St. Peter's Square to hear the pope recite the noon Angelus
prayer, John Paul shouted, ``It is time to return to God.''
	``How can we remain silent in face of the sad spectacle of abuses of
power and unheard-of cruelty which seems to thrust individuals and
populations to the brink of the precipice?'' the pope asked, referring
to the reports of massacres in the former Yugoslav republic.
	``How can it happen that in our century, the century of science and
technical advances, capable of penetrating the mysteries of space, we
find ourselves impotent witnesses of horrifying violations of human
dignity?'' he said.
	``Does it not, perhaps, depend on the fact that contemporary culture
is, to a large extent, following the mirage of humanism without God, and
presumes to affirm the rights of man, forgetting, and at times even
trampling on, the rights of God?'' the pope questioned.
	``Allow me to shout it loudly: It is time to return to God,'' John
Paul said, raising his voice to a loud shout.
	He said facts had proved that ``every ideology that sought to put man
as an alternative to God'' had shown itself to be ``blind''.
	``Our world is thirsty for faith, for authentic and profound faith,
because only God can satisfy fully the aspirations of the human heart,''
he said.
	John Paul recalled that on Saturday he met Sarajevo Mayor Muhamed
Kresvljakovic, currently visiting Rome, and said the mayor ``confirmed
the worsening of the tragic news that for more than a year has been
reaching us from the martyred populations of Bosnia-Herzgovina.''
	``The awful figures of dead and wounded, of violated women, of people
interned in concentration camps, of people deported for the iniquitous
operation of ethnic cleansing...are now even more dramatic,'' the pope
said.
	He said he assured the mayor ``that the Holy See will continue to use
all the means at its disposal to contribute toward putting an end to
this useless massacre.''
	``For this, I feel the duty to launch once again a heartfelt appeal
to all men of good will that they may continue the noble effort to send
humanitarian aid, even at the cost of grave sacrifices, to the
populations most hit by the war,'' John Paul said.
	``Once again, I feel the imperious duty to remind all those
responsible for the Balkan drama that a war of aggression is unworthy of
man, that the physical and moral destruction of an adversary is a crime,
and that territorial conquest carried out by force is unacceptable,'' he
said.
	``In the name of God, I invite everybody to lay down their arms,''
the pope said. ``It is never too late to repair the evil that has been
done and to reconstruct a new homeland.''

From: [email protected] (JOANNE MERRIWEATHER)
Subject: Major urges television producers to curb violence
Date: Sun, 7 Mar 93 9:57:04 PST

	LONDON (UPI) -- A television programmer, responding to Prime Minister
John Major's call to curb the ``relentless diet of violence'' fed to
young children over the air waves, said Sunday it is up to parents to
monitor the viewing habits of their children.
	``I don't think in the end you can just put the responsibility
entirely onto the broadcaster,'' said Alan Yentob, controller of part of
the British Broadcasting Corp. ``There has to be a kind of pact between
parents and children.''
	Yentob's comments came in response to remarks by the prime minister
Saturday. Major, speaking to a meeting of the Conservative Central
Council in Harrogate, said he did not wish for censorship of broadcast
media but there was ``too much violence on videos and on television.''
	``What we watch is the single biggest influence on many people's
thinking. Think whether a relentless diet of violence won't have a
serious affect on the young,'' Major said.
	``Do not just be careful when you show it -- be careful what you show,
'' he added.
	Yentob, who earlier in the week apologized for screening a hospital
drama featuring teenage violence and arson, said broadcasters were not
solely to blame for the problem and that parents had the responsibility
to control their childrens' viewing.
	``You cannot avoid parental responsibility. Ever since the video
arrived, you can video a show and look at it another time,'' he said. 
``So I think there needs to be a debate within the household.''
	The issue of television and movie violence was raised by film star
Anthony Hopkins last week when he said he may not take part in the
sequel to the blockbuster movie ``Silence of the Lambs,'' in which he
played Hannibal Lecter, a cannibal and serial killer, because of the
violent nature of the film.
	``Enough is enough,'' Hopkins said. ``As an actor, I have some
responsibility. We have seen some terrible things in Britain recently.
It's a terrifying world we live in and I don't want to encourage that
through my films.''
	His sentiments were later echoed by Clint Eastwood, Jack Nicholson,
Jane Fonda and Richard Dreyfuss.
	In Harrogate, Major also defended his statement made last week that 
``we need to understand less and to condemn a little more,'' saying 
``unless society sets rules and standards and enforces them, we cannot
be surprised if others flout them.''
	Home Secretary Kenneth Clarke announced a series of measures Saturday
to combat the growing level of crime in Britain.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: 12-year-old girl sues to live with grandma
Date: Fri, 5 Mar 93 6:09:41 PST

	TITUSVILLE, Fla. (UPI) -- A 12-year-old Brevard County girl who claims
she was sexually assaulted by her stepfather, emotionally ignored by her
father and betrayed by her mother has filed suit asking to live with her
grandmother.
	The case is similar to that of Gregory Kingsley, the Central Florida
youth who successfully divorced his parents last September and won the
right to be adopted by his foster parents, George and Lizabeth Russ of
Leesburg.
	George Russ, an attorney who is an activist on children's issues, was
contacted in December by the 12-year-old girl, who had run away.
	``Once again a child is being treated like property,'' Russ told The
Miami Herald in Friday's editions.
	Unlike Gregory, who later changed his name to Shawn Russ, the girl is
not trying to terminate her parents' rights. She wants the court to
allow her to live with her grandmother, who was arrested for interfering
with her custody after the girl ran away -- although later the state
dropped the charges.
	The girl had lived with her mother in Virginia after her parents
divorced six years ago. Her father, who works at the Kennedy Space
Center, fought and won custody of her when she complained she was
sexually assaulted by her stepfather.
	Unhappy with her father and stepfamily, the girl ran away last summer
and was missing for months. She returned after contacting Russ.
	The child claims her mother betrayed her by denying that any abuse
occured.
	The girl accuses her father of ignoring her emotional needs and of
abusing alcohol and drugs. Her father denied the allegations but said he
placed the girl in a Central Florida psychiatric center for being 
``rebellious'' and ``uncontrollable.''
	Nicholas Lessey, an attorney for the father, said the man will fight
to keep custody of the girl.
	``It's been a big mess -- is what it's been,'' Lessey said. ``They
don't get more bungled than this. All the people need to get out of it
and let the family work it out.''
	Lessey said the girl ``lacks the capacity to hire an attorney and be
represented in that fashion.''
	Russ said the idea that other kids will seek to file lawsuits
regarding their custody is a ``logical extension'' of the Gregory
Kingsley case, which is being appealed.
	Russ said children should have a voice in court.
	``People can't get beyond the hurdle that having a chance to be heard
doesn't mean having the right to make fundamental decisions about their
life,'' Russ said.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Randall Terry guilty in Democratic convention protest
Date: Fri, 5 Mar 93 15:49:06 PST

	NEW YORK (UPI) -- Randall Terry, head of the anti-abortion group
Operation Rescue, was found guilty Friday of violating a court order by
engineering a plan to present presidential candidate Bill Clinton with a
human fetus during last summer's Democratic National Convention.
	U.S. District Court Judge Robert Ward found Terry guilty of criminal
contempt in the July 14 incident for ``aiding and abetting'' a
Binghamton, N.Y., resident who handed a fetus to Clinton after asking
him for an autograph.
	The anti-abortion protest occurred outside Clinton's hotel as he
prepared to go for an early morning run.
	Before the start of the convention in Manhattan last July, a judge
issued an order barring such protests.
	Terry faces up to six months in prison and was scheduled to be
sentenced on May 21.
	State Attorney General Robert Abrams said the judge's ruling sends 
``an important message that Operation Rescue's lawlessness will not be
tolerated in New York.''
	``Randall Terry's terror tactics, which seek to deny women their
constitutional right to choose, did not and will not succeed,'' Abrams
said.
	Terry could not be reached for comment.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Filipinos claim apparition of Virgin Mary
Date: Sat, 6 Mar 93 1:51:01 PST

	MANILA, Philippines (UPI) -- Several persons among tens of thousands
of pilgrims who trekked to a northern town claimed to have seen an
apparition of the Virgin Mary clad in white and ``floating in the cloud''
Saturday, a radio station reported.
	There was no comment from the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy on the
reported apparition and other believers on the scene said they saw
nothing.
	Radio station DZXL in a live report from Agoo town, La Union
province, 120 miles north of Manila, said two of its reporters and two
other persons they interviewed saw the figure appear three times during
the day.
	Tens of thousands of believers in this largely Catholic country have
flocked to Agoo, a sleepy town of 42,000, since Friday to witness the
apparition which has been widely reported in newspapers to occur
Saturday.
	Reports of apparitions are widely believed in the Philippines, where
85 percent of the people are Roman Catholics.
	``I saw the white figure of a woman, wearing a white veil and she was
floating above the mountain,'' said DZXL reporter Ramon Francisco in a
live broadcast from the scene.
	``It was a silhouette of the figure of a woman with a white veil and
a dark-colored waistband. If I am not mistaken, this was the figure of
our Blessed Mother,'' Francisco said, adding he saw the image for about
``three to four seconds.''
	Pedro Gaviola, a bank employee from Pampanga province near La Union,
claimed in an interview that he also saw the figure for about 10
seconds.
	Police said more than 100,000 people jammed an open field in a
village where the apparition was supposed to occur under a hot sun. They
wept, prayed and sang. Many brought sick relatives and lugged small
Marian statues.
	Reports of the apparition began to circulate after a 12-year-old boy,
Judiel Nieva, claimed Mary has been appearing in Agoo on the first
Saturday of every month and on special religious feasts since 1989.

From: [email protected] (THOMAS FERRARO)
Subject: Clinton says stimulus still needed
Date: Sat, 6 Mar 93 9:22:59 PST

	WASHINGTON (UPI) -- President Clinton said Saturday the economic
recovery Republicans say is forging ahead remains ``anemic'' and his $30
billion economic stimulus package is still needed to put people to work.
	Responding to a surprise slip in the jobless rate from 7.1 to 7
percent and the increase of 365,000 jobs last month, Clinton said, 
``We're happy whenever fewer Americans are out of work, but we certainly
can't declare victory now.''
	The president said Congress should stop attacking his stimulus
package and pass it quickly so Americans can enjoy the 8 million private
and public jobs it is intended to create over the next four years.
	Clinton used his weekly radio address to respond to critics who
seized upon the economic figures announced Friday to advance their
argument that the economy is on the mend and the stimulus program would
be a waste of money.
	The president said that most of the new jobs reflected in last month
unemployment rate pay part-time wages and that few provide health care
coverage.
	``If this anemic recovery is the best we can do, it is further proof
that real change are needed to produce a better economy and a better
life of our people,'' the president said.
	Clinton offered the stimulus as part of his economic reform plan to
reinvigorate the economy with nearly $500 billion in tax hikes and
spending cuts.
	The job-creating proposal includes money to create short-term summer
jobs for urban youth, rebuild roads and bridges and provide tax breaks
for small businesses.
	While polls show the president's plan winning broad support from the
public, many in Congress, primarily Republicans, say Clinton has failed
to offer enough spending cuts and say his stimulus package is no longer
needed.
	Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, reiterated that position Saturday in the
official Republican reponse to the president's radio address.
	``Just yesterday we learned that the unemployment rate drops to its
lowest level since 1991, and that the economy created 365,000 new jobs
in one month alone, the largest one-month increase in four years,'' he
said.
	Stevens said the Republican position on the Clinton budget could be
summarized by the phrase: ``Cut spending first.''
	But Clinton anticipated that argument in his six-minute radio address
from the Oval Office.
	``There are those who actually lack the vision to support these
investments because they say we shouldn't spend any new money trying to
grow this economy.
	``There is a profound difference betweeen the spending and
investment,'' he said. ``It's the difference between the status quo and
change.''
	In an appeal to his listeners Clinton said, ``I hope you'll join me
in this call for a new direction. I hope you'll enlist your
representatives and senators in the critical cause of change.''
--
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From: [email protected] (GREG HENDERSON)
Subject: Supreme Court refuses to hear Louisiana abortion appeal
Date: Mon, 8 Mar 93 7:26:21 PST

	WASHINGTON (UPI) -- The Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear an
appeal by Louisiana to a decision striking down the state's attempt to
ban most abortions.
	The court, as expected, let stand a ruling of the 5th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals in New Orleans that the state's 1991 law -- which never
took effect -- is unconstitutional.
	The Louisiana statute would have outlawed abortion except to save a
mother's life and in cases of rape or incest, and would have threatened
doctors performing other abortions with up to 10 years in prison.
	The 5th Circuit ruled in September that the statue violated the high
court's Planned Parenthood vs. Casey ruling last summer, in which the
court said a woman retains the right to abortion throughout much of her
pregnancy.
	Three months ago the Supreme Court left intact a ruling that a
similar abortion ban in Guam was unconstitutional, but Louisiana opted
to pursue its appeal anyway.
	Louisiana argued that because it is a state, rather than a U.S.
territory like Guam, its legislature should be given more deference.
	It also claimed that because there are some instances when it would
be legal to halt abortion, such as in the late stages of pregnancy, the
ban should not have been struck down in its entirety.
	The Louisiana abortion statute was passed by the state legislature on
June 18, 1991, over the veto of then-Gov. Buddy Roemer, but was halted
by a federal judge before ever being enforced.
	The appeal was pursued by Gov. Edwin Edwards at expense to Louisiana
taxpayers even after the Guam action, despite no realistic chance of its
acceptance by the high court.
	There were no dissents from Monday's order refusing to hear the
appeal.
	The state claimed that the high court, consisting of the same nine
members who decided Casey eight months ago, should overrule both Casey
and its landmark 1973 Roe vs. Wade ruling.
	``There are compelling reasons for a state to conclude that the
unborn child is an actual human life, not merely a potential human life,
'' wrote the state. ``This court should grant (the case) so there can be
a re-balancing of the competing interests of the pregnant woman and the
unborn child, without Roe's thumb on the scales.''
	The state said medical breakthroughs since Roe demand a return to
state control of abortion.
	``Today, in stark contrast to 1973, there is no serious dispute or
lack of scientific consensus that unborn children are human beings,''
the state wrote. ``Individual human life begins at conception.
Scientists accept this statement as scientific fact, physicians accept
it as medical fact, and pregnant women accept it as natural fact.''
	In Casey, which involved a series of Pennsylvania abortion
restrictions, the justices ruled 5-4 that while states can enact
regulations dealing with abortion from the earliest days of pregnancy,
they cannot bar the procedure prior to ``viability'': the stage -- at
about 23 or 24 weeks -- when a fetus could survive outside the womb.
	The Casey decision, which specifically reinforced the basic tenets of
Roe, centered on the court's judgment that any law imposing an ``undue
burden'' on a woman's right to abortion is unconstitutional.   Among the parts of the Pennsylvania law allowed in Casey was a 24-
hour waiting period for abortions.
	In December, the high court likewise let Mississippi retain a 24-hour
delay between the time a woman consults a doctor and can have the
medical procedure performed.
	Monday's action means the Louisiana legislature is now likely to
enact a new law that would regulate -- but not outlaw -- abortion.
 ------
92-1066 Edwin W. Edwards vs. Sojourner T., et al.
92-1157 Edwin Edwards, et al., vs. Sojourner T., et al.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: 'Old Glory' condom wins trademark appeal
Date: Mon, 8 Mar 93 9:49:50 PST

	PROVINCETOWN, Mass. (UPI) -- A Provincetown condom manufacturer Monday
hailed a decision that allows him to market condoms with a U.S. flag-
inspired logo.
	The decision by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board overturned a
decision that denied the flag trademark to the Old Glory Condom Corp. of
Provincetown.
	``I am extremely pleased,'' said owner Jay Critchley. He said the
board ``has acknowledged that the flag can be used for safe sex
education efforts to stem the spread of AIDS.''
	Critchley said the ``real scandal'' was not his trademark, ``but the
fact that the examining attorney was more scandalized by trademark than
by the AIDS crisis to which I sought to respond.''
	The company logo consists of a flag-like image in the shape of an
unfurled condom.
	On May 30, 1991, Rachel Blue, an examinining attorney from the
Trademark Office in Washington, D.C., refused to register the trademark
on the ground that using the image of a U.S. flag to promote condoms 
``would scandalize or shock the conscience of a substantial composite of
the general public.''
	Critchley noted that the Trademark Office had not been scandalized by
other trademarks on condom products, such as ``Deep Stroker,'' ``Rough
Rider,'' ``Big Dom,'' ``Man-to-Man,'' ``Mister Hard Head Condoms,'' 
``Sneaky Pete,'' and ``The Succulents,'' among others.
	Critchley argued that its trademark logo had been singled out soley
because of its political content.
	He also noted that the Trademark Office had previously registered
thousands of designs inspired by the U.S. flag to sell various products.
	The Appeal Board found that the Old Glory trademark ``can in no way
be considered 'scandalous,''' noting that the company seeks to sell 
``high quality condoms as a means of promoting safer sex and eliminating
AIDS.''
	The company's motto notes that ``we believe it is patriotic to
protect and save lives.'' The company said that part of its profits are
donated to safer sex education and AIDS related services.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Bishop resigns following caution for gross indecency
Date: Mon, 8 Mar 93 10:03:36 PST

	LONDON (UPI) -- The Anglican Bishop of Gloucester the Right Rev. Peter
Ball resigned Monday following a formal caution for an act of gross
sexual indecency, Gloucestershire police said.
	A police spokesman said the 61-year-old bishop was formally cautioned
under Section 13 of the Sexual Offenses Act of 1956 which makes it
illegal to commit an act of gross indecency with another man.
	Reports said the allegations were made by a 17-year-old novice monk.
	The spokesman said that police decided to caution rather than
prosecute Ball over the allegation made in December 1992 on the advice
of the Crown Prosecution Service.
	``The prerequisite of this and of any other caution is a clear
admission of guilt,'' the spokesman said.
	Ball, who took up his appointment less than a year ago, said in a
statement that 12 weeks of anxiety over the allegations had taken its
toll on his health.
	``As for the future, I'm sure there are other ways in which I can
serve God,'' he said.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: FBI: Koresh makes provocative statements
Date: Mon, 8 Mar 93 9:43:01 PST

	WACO, Texas (UPI) -- Federal agents said Monday that cult leader David
Koresh is making provocative statements like, ``We are ready for war.
Let's get it on,'' apparently trying to spark another battle with law
officers surrounding his compound.
	Agents of the FBI and Bureau of Alchohol, Tobacco and Firearms told
reporters they continue to work for a peaceful surrender of Koresh and
his more than 100 followers who had held out nine days in a compound
near Waco.
	FBI Special Agent Bob Ricks said, ``At times he has challenged us and
he has tried to provoke us into action. He has indicated he would be
most pleased if we would engage in a gun battle with him. He has made
such statements as, 'we are ready for war. Let's get it on. Your talk is
becoming in vain. I'm going to give you an opportunity to save yourself
before you are blown away'.''
	The agents also disclosed that officers raided an illegal firearms
business called the ``Mag Bag'' near the 77-acre compound early Monday
but confiscated only some shotgun ammunition. They also talked to 13
more people inside the compound and confirmed that they are staying
there of their own free will.
	Ricks also said an agreement had been reached with Koresh to permit a
funeral about 50 feet from the compound. The victim, who was not
identified, was killed in the gunfight with federal agents Feb. 28.
	Four ATF agents were killed and 15 wounded in that raid as agents
tried to serve a search warrant at Branch Davidian compound ruled by
Koresh. Federal agents indicate at least two cult members died in
gunfights Feb. 28 but they do not have precise numbers.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: New Jersey Assembly votes for sexual abstinence instruction
Date: Mon, 8 Mar 93 19:18:53 PST

	TRENTON, N.J. (UPI) -- A bill that passed the New Jersey state
assembly Monday would require New Jersey schools to teach that
abstinence is the only sure means of avoiding AIDS, venereal disease and
unwanted pregnancy.
	The measure was approved 54-7 with many abstentions and now goes to
the state Senate for a vote.
	Republican Assemblywoman Marion Crecco, who sponsored the bill, says
it does not bar teachers from giving information about safe sex.
	``If we are serious about protecting the health and welfare of our
children, then we should promote the most effective method -- sexual
abstinence,'' Crecco said.
	An opponent of the bill, Democratic Assemblywoman Loretta Weinberg,
said the measure ``not only pushes New Jersey back to the Victorian era,
it hurls the state all the way back into the Middle Ages.'' She says
most sex education courses already stress postponing sexual activity.
	Weinberg also argued that the Legislature has no business determining
curriculum content.
	Crecco's original bill said teachers should emphasize preserving
virginity until marriage. It was amended in committee to substitute an
emphasis on committed, monogamous, but not necessarily official
relationships.

From: [email protected] (UPI-Radio)
Subject: US & World headlines (Mar 9 10 am PST)
Date: Tue, 9 Mar 93 10:10:10 PST
   
	In other news... Planned Parenthood today called on the South Dakota
governor NOT to sign an abortion notification bill. The group told
Governor George Mickelson the bill threatens the welfare of the state's
poorest teenage girls.
	
	The bill says at least one parent MUST be notified IF a minor seeks
an abortion.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Baylor to offer art class featuring nude models
Date: Tue, 9 Mar 93 11:59:48 PST

	WACO, Texas (UPI) -- Baylor University, a Baptist institution known
for a campus dancing ban and censuring a co-ed who posed for Playboy
magazine, will use nude models in an art course for the first time in
its 148-year history.
	Mike Bishop, vice president for communications, said female models
will pose unclothed and male models will wear jock straps. He said
Baylor officials expect criticism and ``have had a few calls'' about it.
	Bishop said none of the models will be Baylor students or associated
with the school in any way.
	Baylor maintains close ties with Southern Baptists even though it is
no longer controlled by the Baptist General Convention of Texas, which
governs the denomination across the state.
	Despite those ties, the university's academic affairs committee
approved the advanced figure drawing class with nude models as a
necessary part of the art cirriculum.
	Bishop said that students uncomfortable with nude models will have
the option of sketching models wearing bathing suits or some other type
of clothing. He also said classes will be conducted in classrooms where
no one can peek in.
	Last year, regents considered lifting the ban on dances and
designated Baylor president Herbert Reynolds to decide on the issue. He
decided to keep the ban but retained the right to eliminate it at his
discretion. Many Baptist leaders have traditionally frowned on dancing,
believing that it can lead to immorality.
	In 1980, Baylor barred a female student from participating in
commencement exercises after she posed topless for Playboy magazine.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: One third of Britain's adults smoke
Date: Wed, 10 Mar 93 4:41:16 PST

	LONDON (UPI) -- Organizers of Wednesday's National No Smoking Day said
more than 5 million Britons smoke and one in four of them will die of
tobacco-related disease.
	The announcement came just one week after the government rejected a
move to ban tobacco advertising in Britain.
	Of 1,000 young male smokers, 250 will be killed by tobacco,``
according to statistics by Richard Peto, professor of cancer studies at
the University of Oxford.
	The government last week rejected a cross-party health committee
consultation document recommending a ban on tobacco advertising, saying
it would rather reduce smoking by other means.

From: [email protected] ( ddh )
Subject: Massachusetts Second News in Brief [Mar 12]
Date: Fri, 12 Mar 93 2:55:27 PST

   (BOSTON) - About a dozen pro-life protesters picketed the appearance
in Boston last night of Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun... the
author of the Roe versus Wade decision that legalized abortions in this
country. Blackmun told an audience at the New England School of Law that
he intends to step down soon because of his age. At 83... he is the
oldest member of the court. Blackmun... one of the court's last
remaining liberals... said he anticipates the court will remain in the
control of conservatives will into the middle of the 21st century... but
said he expects President Clinton will be putting his mark on the court
because he will likely have the opportunity to fill several vacanies
over the next four years. Blackmun also said the court has passed up
several recent opportunities to overturn Roe versus Wade... and is not
sure why it has not.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Woman wants to be treated ``as any Tom, Dick or Harriet''
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 93 7:37:32 PST

	LANSING, Mich. (UPI) -- The Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled that
an Elks lodge in southeastern Michigan must consider a woman's
membership application despite the organization's national men-only
policy.
	Those close to the case say it's the first appellate-level decision
in the country affirming a woman's right to seek membership in the
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
	The appellate court panel ruled Wednesday that the lodge in Rochester
is ``a place of public service'' as well as a ``place of public
accommodation'' under the state's civil rights law.
	The court rejected the lodge's argument that it is a private club
and, therefore, exempt from a state ban against sex discrimination.
	The ruling came on a lawsuit filed by Rochester real estate broker
Sharon Lee Schellenberg against Lodge 2225, which rejected her
membership application March of 1988.
	``She went through the interview proces and they said they wouldn't
put her up for a vote only because she's a woman,'' said Schellenberg's
attorney, Michael Curhan. ``She doesn't consider herself an ardent
feminist but she lives and works in the area and liked their food.
	``She wants to be treated the same as any Tom, Dick or Harriet.''
	The decision upheld Oakland County Circuit Judge Hilda Gage, who had
ordered the lodge to reconsider Schellenberg's application without
regard to her sex.
	There was no immediate indication from the lodge whether it would ask
the Michigan Supreme Court to consider the case.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Boy's death ruled homicide
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 93 7:30:40 PST

	ST. CHARLES, Mo. (UPI) -- Authorities Thursday considered criminal
charges against the Christian Scientist parents of a 12-year-old boy who
lapsed into a diabetic coma and died.
	St. Charles County Medical Examiner Mary Case Wednesday ruled the
Dec. 31 death of Araron Witt of St. Charles a homicide because the
child's parents never sought medical help. Death came just one day
before Aaron's 13th birthday.
	Case said an autopsy showed he died of diabetes ketoacidosis, a
condition that arises when a lack of insulin causes an increase of acids
in the blood. Diabetes ketoacidosis usually is treatable, Case said. She
said she believed Aaron would have lived if his parents had gotten
medical help for him.
	Instead, the parents called a Christian Science practitioner to their
home to pray with them for the boy's recovery, authorities said. The
names of Aaron's parents, who have not been charged, were withheld.
	St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney Timothy Braun said his office
was considering whether to file charges against Aaron's parents. Braun
said the possible charges ranged from first-degree murder to involuntary
manslaughter.
	Richard Nordahl, the Missouri representative for the First Church of
Christ, Scientist, said the boy's parents were loving. Nordahl said
Christian Scientists believe their approach to healing is as valid as
any medical approach.
	During the last decade, seven Christian Science families nationwide
have been prosecuted in connection with the deaths of their children.
Five couples have been found guilty, but the convictions of Christine
and Bill Hermanson were overturned last July by the Florida Supreme
Court.
	Amy Hermanson, 7, died of diabetic ketoacidosis in 1986 in Sarasota,
Fla. Her parents now live in Ladue, an affluent suburb of St. Louis.
	Aaron was a student at The Principia, a local private school for the
children of Christian Scientist families. Case said the boy had been
feeling ill for several days before his death.
	Ketoacidosis begins with extreme thirst, loss of appetite, lethargy,
nausea and vomiting, doctors said. They said the symptoms increase in
seriousness to hyperventilation, abdominal tenderness, confusion and
coma. If left untreated, diabetics with ketoacidosis will die.
	Treatment of the condition involves administration of insulin and
intravenous fluids, and those who receive the treatment almost always
recover, doctors said.
	Insulin is a hormone that helps the body metabolize sugar and other
carbohydrates. Diabetics, whose bodies do not produce enough insulin,
must regulate their blood-sugar levels by either injecting insulin or
swallowing pills.
	Case said Missouri law enables parents to escape prosecution for the
death of a child under state child neglect statutes because of their
religion. She said she previously had investigated the deaths of two
other Christian Scientist children in the St. Louis area that might have
been prevented with conventional medical treatment.

From: [email protected] (WILLIAM M. REILLY)
Subject: Injunction sought to bar ``religious'' St. Pat's Parade.
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 93 22:17:58 PST

	NEW YORK (UPI) -- A suit seeking an injunction to bar the 232nd annual
St. Patrick's Day parade from marching up Fifth Avenue as a religious
procession was filed in the latest see-saw battle plaguing the march.
	Such a ``public accomodation'' allowing the St. Patrick's Day
stepping-out next week violates the separation of church and state, said
the papers filed Thursday in Manhattan state Supreme Court.
	``Fifth Avenue is not a church,'' said civil rights attorney William
Kunstler and his colleague, Ron Kuby, in a ``Memorandum of Law,'' filed
with the suit.
	``Giving a private religious group control over Fifth Avenue violates
the First Amendment of the Constitution of the government of the United
States and the Constitution of the State of New York.''
	The present holder of the parade permit is the Ancient Order of
Hibernians, a fraternal group of Irish Roman Catholics which held the
permit for about 150 years until this year when the city awarded it to a
rival group because the Hibernians refused to allow the Irish Lesbian
and Gay Organization to march.
	The traditional march was scheduled to step off at 11 a.m. on Fifth
Avenue at 44th Street and move up to 86th Street and over to Third
Avenue.
	The Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization has called for a boycott of
the traditional parade, either marching in it or watching it.
	The group planned its own march at 9 a.m. to protest ``homophobics
and bigots,'' from 59th Street and Fifth Avenue down to 42nd Street.
	The Hibernians successfully arguing in federal court for return of
the permit. They claim their processsion is a religious assembly and
could not be forced to allow the gay and lesbian group to participate
because the Roman Catholic church preaches against homosexuality.
	Kunstler's suit said ``A religious organization is being given the
right to control Fifth Avenue and that right will be enforced by members
of the New York City Police Department.''
	That's a violation of the separation of church and state, Kunstler
claimed.
	Asked if that meant there may be no parade, he responded, ``I guess I
would rather have no parade if it excludes anyone.''
	Representatives of the ILGO and the city could not be reached for
comment.
	Ernest Matthews Jr., an attorney for the Hibernians, dismissed the
suit.
	``There has always been a sinister undercurrent of anti-Catholicism
in this,'' he said, also noting that Kunstler earlier had been involved
trying to stop the march.
	``The suit has no merit whatsoever,'' he said, ``I just see it as an
anit-Catholic animus raising its head here. It's a silly thing.''
	Some of the city's politicians, including Mayor David Dinkins, are
avoiding the parade this year because of Hibernian-gay standoff.
	The annual parade became engulfed in controversy in 1981 when the gay
group was not allowed to march as a unit, but was invited to march with
a liberal division of the Hibernians.
	Mayor Dinkins gave up his traditional place at the head of the parade
to march with the group, but boycotted the parade last year when members
refused to march unless they were accepted as a unit.

From: [email protected] (BONNIE ROCHMAN)
Subject: New Biblical zoo opens in Jerusalem
Date: Mon, 15 Mar 93 0:14:57 PST

	JERUSALEM (UPI) -- Noah is nowhere to be found among the lions and
tigers and hippos that roam the plains of the world's only Biblical zoo,
but his influence is clearly felt.
	Like the ancient seafarer, zoologists at Jerusalem's hottest new
attraction have acquired at least two of every species they could lay
their hands on.
	In stark contrast to Israel's first Biblical zoo built in 1952,
animals no longer pace back and forth in concrete cages enclosed by
wrought-iron bars. The new zoo, situated in the city's booming Manahat
section, tries to recreate the animals' natural environment.
	``Instead of being a postcard zoo that just puts one or two animals
in a cage so people come and look at them, we're careful to cooperate
with the wild and put them in at least twos so they can mate,'' said
Beverly Burge, a veteran zoo worker and animal expert.
	Animals have free rein to lurk around the large open spaces in their
$18 million home, complete with palm trees, boulders and rushing streams
or quiet ponds in virtually every habitat. ``We're not a display zoo,''
Burge said. ``All modern zoos are doing this, letting the animals have
something to do.''
	Long ago, curators made a decision to showcase only those animals
mentioned in the Bible, but popular demand has prompted them to loosen
the scriptural requirement.
	Incredibly, the most popular of the primates is not even mentioned
among the menagerie in the book of Genesis.
	``People would come and ask, 'Where are the monkeys?''' she said. 
``So they're here now, even though we used to joke that Noah brought two
of everything.''
	Not only have the monkeys arrived, but the new zoo boasts more than
120 other species, including snow leopards, hippopotamuses and a rainbow
of exotic birds -- an animal population of 700 in all.
	To highlight the Biblical connection in the original zoo, plaques
containing inscriptions from the Old and New Testaments and the Koran,
Islam's holy book, identified all the animals, each sign spelled out in
Hebrew, English and Arabic.
	Unfortunately, the new park posted the quotations only in Hebrew,
making it more difficult for international travelers to catch the
scriptural flavor. Brochures containing translations into other
languages are planned.
	Despite the addition of animals not mentioned in the Bible, the Tisch
Family Biblical Zoo, built by the wealthy Jewish family from New York
that owns the CBS television network and a vast array of real estate
holdings, is trying to retain the ``Biblical flavor'' by specializing in
animals indigenous to Israel and the Middle East.
	``The lions are Asian, not African, and the bears are from Syria
rather than somewhere else,'' Burge said.
	That in itself is a Middle East story. Relations between the
neighboring countries being what they are, the Syrian bears spent
several years in a zoo in Wales before coming to Israel.
	All the water in the park flows from what has been termed ``Moses'
Rock,'' referring to the Biblical story in which the leader of Israel 
``struck the rock with his staff and water came forth.''
	Another delightful touch to the zoo, which opened Feb. 28, is that
all the trees in its 250 acres bear fruit. ``We have carob, fig and
olive trees, and those over there that look like cherry blossoms are
almond trees,'' Burge said.
	Zookeepers are proud of their newest acquisition, ``Shuki Tuki,'' a
talking parrot famous in Israel from children's television. As Shuki
perched on volunteer Daniella Yaakov's shoulder on a recent day, throngs
of adoring youngsters crowded around, bidding him, ``Shalom.''
	When Shuki answered, ``Hello,'' in English, Yaakov blamed the bird's
lack of Hebrew proficiency on an American trainer.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Students riot north of Cairo, attack church
Date: Sun, 14 Mar 93 7:25:15 PST

	CAIRO, Egypt (UPI) -- Demonstrators rioted north of Cairo amid student
protests against punitive measures against a teacher and four students
who allegedly circulated anti-Christian tape recordings, authorities
said Sunday.
	An Angelican church was attacked and one of its annexes was set on
fire and at least 30 students were arrested during the violent protests
that began late Saturday in Kaliubiya, 25 miles north of Cairo, police
and media reports said Sunday.
	At least two newspapers said local authorities bowed to public
pressure and revoked their decision to dismiss the four high school
students and one of their teachers for playing tapes that ``entice
sectarian strife'' -- apparently meaning they contained anti-Christian
material.
	Watani, a weekly newspaper that serves as the mouthpiece of the
Coptic Christian community in Egypt, Sunday blasted the revocation by
local authorities and claimed the demonstration was staged by some local
officials to justify the reinstatement decision.
	The demonstrators Saturday also torched a police car assigned to
patrol the area of the church, a measure taken for all churches since
violence by Muslim militants began last year in the southern province of
Assiut.
	No casualties were reported in the riots but police said at least 30
students were arrested among the thousands of demonstrators.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Ulster Catholic killed waiting to buy bait
Date: Mon, 15 Mar 93 6:49:31 PST

	BELFAST, Northern Ireland (UPI) -- A Catholic man was shot and killed
on the shores of Belfast Lough Monday as he waited to buy fish bait, a
Royal Ulster Constabulary spokesman said.
	The victim, believed to be in his 50s, was sitting in his van at
Newtownabbey, 3 miles from the city center, waiting to buy bait from
people digging on the mudflats on the lough shore.
	Witnesses said the victim was shot at point-blank range by a gunman
who opened fire from a car that pulled up alongside him.
	The man was the 18th person to die in the Northern Ireland conflict
this year.
	Local people said he was an easy target as he was well-known in the
area and bought his fish bait at the same spot every day.
	The car used by the killer was found abandoned less than a mile away
in the predominantly Protestant Rathcoole housing estate.
	No organization immediately claimed responsibility for the shooting,
but police said they were working on the theory that a Protestant group
carried out the killing.

From: [email protected] ( ddh )
Subject: Massachusetts Third News in Brief [Mar 15]
Date: Mon, 15 Mar 93 7:24:16 PST

  (priest)
	(FALL RIVER) - A Mansfield priest who allegedly witnessed another
priest sexually molesting children... and did nothing to stop it or
report it... has received a promotion... and that has angered some of
the alleged victims. The Reverend Armando Annunziato was elevated
recently by the Fall River Roman Catholic Bishop Sean O-Malley to the
level of monsignor. Annunziato is the pastor of St. Mary's Church in
Mansfield. He is also alleged to have interrupted on at least a half-
dozen occasions the Reverend James Porter in the act of molesting
children at St. Mary's Church in North Attleboro. Porter has since been
indicted on sexual molestation charges involving alleged incidents in
the 1960s. Some of his alleged victims are expressing outrage now
because a priest they say could have acted to stop the abuse failed to
do so. Annunziato reportedly has told authorities he had NOT witnessed
any such abuse.
   

    Tony Balsamo is no longer available to post these items from
    CLARInet.  If there is someone who has access and would be willing
    to provide this service, we'd like to talk to you.  If no one, 
    then we'll do without them.
    
    Thank you,          
    
    Moderators of the Christian Notes Conference

       Anyone wishing to continue to receive CLARInet news items that I feel
   relate to Christianity and also does not mind receiving, from time to time,
   announcements of Boston Church of Christ activities, send me mail and I
   will place you in a distribution list.

       Respond by mail, I do not read this conference.

   In Christ,
   Tony Balsamo
   STARGL::BALSAMO

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Negotiations continue to free kidnapped missionaries
Date: Tue, 16 Mar 93 17:09:06 PST

	PANAMA CITY, Panama (UPI) -- Negotiations to free three American
missionaries kidnapped from Panama in January by presumed Colombian
guerrillas were continuing but had yet to bear fruit, a government
official said Tuesday.
	Panamanian Justice Minister Juan Chevalier said officials of the
Florida-based New Tribes Mission -- the group to which the three
Americans belong -- have been communicating by radio with the kidnapped
men and negotiating with the captors.
	However, Chevalier said he still does not know of any agreement to
free the three, who were abducted Jan. 31 from the Darien Jungle near
the Colombian border.
	The Panamanian government has said the three men -- Mark Rich, Rich
Tenenoff and David Mankins -- were abducted by rebels of the leftist
Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces. The three are believed to be in
Colombia.
	The Panama City newspaper El Siglo quoted National Police Director
Oswaldo Fernandez on Tuesday as saying the missionaries are alive but
not in Panama.
	Fernandez told the newspaper that negotiations to free the men are in
the hands of New Tribes officials and that the Panamanian government has
no responsibility in the matter.
	The Panamanian government had sent 200 police and military forces to
search for the three missionaries and their kidnappers shortly after the
abduction, but found no trace of the men and abandoned the operation.
	Media reports have said the Americans may have been mistaken for
anti-drug agents by the Colombian guerrilla group, which transports
drugs through Darien, but no motive has been firmly established for the
abduction.
	The kidnappers have asked for $5 million in ransom, Chevalier has
said. U.S. and Panamanian officials have said they will not pay to free
the three.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Boston Mayor Flynn nominated ambassador to Vatican
Date: Tue, 16 Mar 93 18:52:42 PST

	BOSTON (UPI) -- Boston Mayor Raymond Flynn, an anti-abortion Democrat
and devout Roman Catholic, was nominated Tuesday by President Clinton to
be the next U.S. ambassador to the Vatican.
	Flynn, 53, who has been the city's chief executive for 10 years and
served asco-chairman of Clinton's campaign committee last fall, said he
accepted the offer in an afternoon phone call from the president.
	At an emotional news conference outside the Gate of Heaven Church in
South Boston, where he worships almost daily, Flynn called the
nomination ``an extreme honor, not only for me and my family, but for
the people of Boston.''
	Fighting back tears at times, Flynn said he would use the post to 
``continue the message I fought for in Boston, and that is social and
economic justice.
	``That's what the Catholic Church is about...and that's why this is
such a huge honor,'' he said.
	Flynn said he had also spoken to Boston's Cardinal Bernard Law, who
told him he was ``delighted'' with the nomination.
	Flynn's announcement touched off a scramble to replace him in a
special election expected to be held in September.
	``I think you'll see a major donnybrook to succeed him,'' said City
Councilor Joseph Nucci, one of at least half a dozen likely candidates.
	City Council President Thomas Menino, who will be acting mayor until
the election, was considered the early favorite to win the race.
	Flynn, a former president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, is
considered a liberal on most political and social issues and has been a
leading advocate of increased federal aid to the cities. But like the
church, he strongly opposes abortion rights, and has also blocked
efforts to dispense condoms in city schools to combat the spread of AIDS
and other sexually transmitted diseases.
	Flynn, a former All America basketball player at Providence College
who tried out with the Boston Celtics in 1960s, was first elected mayor
in 1983 after eight years in the Massachusetts House and five years on
the City Council. He won a third, four-year term in 1991 with 75 percent
of the vote, the biggest majority of any mayor in Boston's history, and
had been considered the strongest potential challenger to Republican
Gov. William Weld in 1994.
	Flynn, who has long been a vocal opponent of British policy in
Northern Ireland, was also rumored as a possible U.S. peace envoy to
Ulster after Clinton was elected in November. But the president has so
far declined to create the post, which he favored during the campaign,
apparently because of opposition from British Prime Minister John Major.

From: [email protected] (BAHAA ELKOUSSY)
Subject: Policeman killed, 11 others wounded by militants in Egypt
Date: Wed, 17 Mar 93 5:59:36 PST

	CAIRO, Egypt (UPI) -- A police officer was killed and 11 others were
wounded Wednesday in a raid and shootout that also left 10 Muslim
militants dead in the troubled city of Assiut, 187 miles south of Cairo,
police reported.
	Police Capt. Abdel Rasoul was shot and killed in the clash, which was
the latest incident in the continuing confrontation between Egyptian
security forces and Muslim radicals.
	Eleven other policemen, including a captain and a first lieutenant,
were injured in the shootout, police said.
	The militants tossed at least four explosive devices on police
circling the residential building, the source said. Explosions were
heard throughout the city.
	The militants exchanged fire with police from the roof of the four-
story building until they ran out of ammunition, the source said.
	Police stormed the building and 10 militants were killed, including
Ahmed Zaki, who was said to be one of the most wanted militant leaders
in Egypt, police reported. Zaki was suspected to have led a group of
radicals in the deadly attack last month on a top police lieutenant
colonel and his 8-year-old son in Assiut.
	The latest clash came only hours after suspected militants bombed
seven tourist buses near the Egyptian Museum in Cairo's Tahrir Square,
which is the capital's busiest point. There were no injuries reported in
the attack and no one has claimed responsibilty.
	Last October, the militants began targeting tourists in a move to
turn up the heat on the secular, moderate government of President Hosni
Mubarak, which they hope to topple and replace with an Iranian-style
theocracy.
	Three tourists have been killed and two dozen others wounded in the
terrorist campaign, while more than 100 Egyptians have died in the
attacks and clashes involving the militants since March 1992.
	Most of the violence occurred in and around Assiut, but the war
spilled over late last year into different areas of the country,
including Cairo and the tourist Nile city of Aswan, 560 miles south of
the capital.
	Mubarak and top security aides have repeatedly vowed in recent months
to crush the militant movement, but the Muslim radicals, who also vowed
retaliation for the killings of their comrades in numerous police raids,
continued to pose a serious threat.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Biblical lepers probably didn't have leprosy
Date: Wed, 17 Mar 93 11:23:08 PST

	SCHAUMBURG, Ill. (UPI) -- The ``lepers'' described in the Old
Testament of the Bible almost certainly did not have leprosy,
dermatologist David Kaplan says.
	Syphilis, maybe, but not leprosy.
	And Kaplan blames the Greeks for the confusion.
	``It couldn't have been leprosy because Hansen's disease was unknown
in Mesopotamia at the time the Old Testament was being written (587-538
BCE),'' Kaplan said in the March issue of the Journal of the American
Academy of Dermatology.
	Hansen's disease is the formal name for leprosy. BCE means ``before
Christian era,'' the scientific equivalent of B.C.
	Kaplan says the available evidence indicates that leprosy was brought
to the Mideast from India around 325 BCE by soldiers serving under
Alexander the Great.
	Also, he says, Hansen's disease would not produce the symptoms
mentioned in Leviticus, Chapter 13. That text describes seven types of
skin and hair changes which occur rather rapidly during a few weeks.
Hansen's disease, Kaplan said, ``actually develops quite slowly over a
period of years and doesn't affect a person's hair or change its color
as described in Biblical texts.''
	Kaplan said more recent translations by Hebrew scholars, using root
word derivations, indicate the Hebrew word ``zara'at'' was used to refer
collectively to skin problems regarded by the Old Testament authorities
as unclean.
	He said the Greeks initiated the confusion during translation of
texts acquired by Ptolemy II for the library at Alexandria. But he said
subsequent translations into Latin made things even worse and many
references to general skin diseases were mistranslated into the word for
``leprosy.
	Kaplan said future versions of the Bible should drop all use of the
word ``leprosy'' and instead refer to ``sign of impurity'' as a more
literal translation of ``zara'at.''

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Judge: Deport Muslim sheik
Date: Wed, 17 Mar 93 11:23:08 PST

	NEWARK, N.J. (UPI) -- A federal judge has ordered the deportation of
the blind Muslim cleric whose followers include suspects in the bombing
of the World Trade Center, it was revealed Wednesday.
	However, Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman will remain free and may travel
unrestricted as his case winds through the appeal process.
	Immigration Judge Daniel Meisner, in a decision released late Tuesday
but not available until Wednesday, found the sheik ``excludable and
deportable from the United States.''
	Immigration officials said the shiek, blind since birth, obtained a
green card in April 1991 under false pretenses by concealing that he was
a polygamist and convicted of crimes in Egypt -- both grounds for
exclusion.
	Since arriving in the United States, the sheik has presided at
mosques in Brooklyn and Jersey City, N.J., whose worshipers included
three suspects under arrest in the World Trade Center bombing
investigation.
	The Wall Street Journal Wednesday reported that three additional
suspects have fled the country.
	Meisner's decision is the result of a hearing Jan. 20 on charges
stemming from the sheik's attempt to re-enter the United States at New
York's Kennedy Airport in July 1991.
	At that time, Immigration and Naturalization Service officials
challenged his claim to qualify for permanent residency. His green card
was pulled in March 1992 after the INS found he concealed information.
	Specifically, he failed to tell INS officials he was a polygamist and
that he was convicted in Egypt in 1987 of falsifying a check and ``moral
turpitude.''
	The Egyptian government claims the sheik, who was charged but
acquited in the assassination of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, is the
spiritual leader of an extremist group responsible for a series of
attacks on tourists and police.
	The Islam militants hope to topple Egypt's secular, moderate
government and replace it with an Iranian-style theocracy.
	But M.T. Mehdi, of the National Council on Islamic Affairs in New
York, called the judge's decision a ``witchhunt based on political
reasons.''
	``If his remarks will be weakening the government of (Egyptian
president Hosni) Mubarek, the reason is that the government is based on
a foundation of clay because of its corruption,'' Mehdi said.
	``And we cannot deny the Constitutional rights of the sheik to speak
and of the rest of us to hear him in order to protect the police state
of Mubarek in Egypt,'' Mehdi said.
	ABC TV's ``PrimeTime Live'' planned to broadcast the sheik's first
interview, taped in Los Angeles Tuesday, since the Feb. 26 World Trade
Center bombing killed six and injured more than 1,000. The show is
broadcast Thursdays at 10 p.m. EST.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: FBI: 20 to 30 more may be interested in leaving compound
Date: Wed, 17 Mar 93 12:11:47 PST

	WACO, Texas (UPI) -- Another 20 to 30 followers of cult leader David
Koresh would come out of his besieged compound if they were satisfied
they would be treated fairly, federal officials said Wednesday.
	Negotiations with the Branch Davidians entered the 18th day as FBI
Special Agent Bob Ricks said specifics were being discussed that could
lure more people from the compound where 105 men, women and children are
holed up.
	Ricks said Koresh's top aide, Steve Schneider, told negotiators that
20 to 30 people might be interested in coming out if they were satisfied
about the treatment of others who have left and certain legal questions
were answered.
	``Mr. Schneider is talking about a substantial number of people -- he
puts it at 20 to 30 people -- who if they were satisfied with treatment
Kathy Schroeder and (Oliver) Gyarfas received, that they might be in
fact interested in coming out,'' he said.
	They also want answers to numerous questions, such as how they would
be housed, if they would face state or federal charges, and if court
proceedings would be moved elsehwere for trial, he said.
	Four federal agents were killed Feb. 28 when they attempted to serve
a search warrant for illegal firearms at the compound. At least three
cult members were also fatally wounded in the two gun battles that began
the siege.
	Ricks said negotiators were pressing for a second, face-to-face
meeting with Koresh or his aides outside the Mount Carmel camp. A
federal negotiator and the county sheriff held the first face-to-face
session Monday.
	Agents have passed messages of various kinds to the Davidians, he
said. They were audio casettes containing personal messages from
relatives and messages informing them their lawyers are available to
help them when they surrender.
	Ricks said they are not passing notes from lawyers inside because
Koresh and his followers are not in custody despite what some people
outside the siege have charged in recent days.
	``Never in my history in the FBI have I deemed a person to be in
custody when he has an AK-47 pointed at my head,'' he said.
	Heavily armed agents of the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms continue to surround the complex 10 miles east of Waco. M-1
Abrams tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles are being used for protection
of the agents.
	Ricks said negotiators might allow Koresh to make a statement to the
media as part of a surrender pact, but only after he has left the
compound. He was allowed to make a 58-minute broadcast statement March 2
but he broke his promise to surrender, saying God told him to wait.
	``We will no longer allow him direct access to the media unless we're
in fact assured that he has in fact come out of the compound,'' Ricks
said.
	Meanwhile, a federal magistrate was expected to announce soon whether
Schroeder, who left the compound last Friday and was held as a material
witness, will be freed on bond. He was scheduled to hold another
detention hearing Wednesday for Gyarfas, who also walked out Friday.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Wounded ATF agent alleges Waco newspaper tipped Koresh
Date: Wed, 17 Mar 93 14:49:46 PST

	WACO, Texas (UPI) -- A federal agent wounded in the ill-fated raid on
cult leader David Koresh's compound alleged in a lawsuit Wednesday that
the Waco newspaper tipped off the compound about the impending raid.
	John T. Risenhoover, an agent of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms, filed the civil lawsuit in State District Court against Cox
Enterprises, Inc. which operates the Waco Tribune-Herald.
	Bob Lott, editor of the newspaper, immediately issued a statement
that denied the charge that the newspaper tipped off Koresh and said the
newspaper was in no way to blame for the deaths of four federal agents
and injuries to others.
	Risenhoover, who is assigned to the San Antonio ATF office, was one
of 15 agents wounded in the bloody gunfight with cult members when they
attempted to serve a search warrant for illegal firearms Feb. 28.
	Reporters and photographers from the Tribune-Herald and KWTX-TV of
Waco were at the scene when the raid was carried out. The ATF has said
repeatedly that none of their officers notified the news media of the
planned raid.
	Don Hartnett, deputy ATF director, says agents lost the ``element of
surprise'' because a tip was received in the compound only minutes
before the raid. The ATF and Texas Rangers are investigating to
determine who tipped off Koresh.
	ATF spokeswoman Sharon Wheeler said Wednesday afternoon in Waco the
ATF was not involved in any way in the lawsuit filed by Risenhoover. 
``We cannot comment as to the factual basis of the lawsuit,'' she said.
	The lawsuit alleges ``that the Waco Tribune-Herald called David
Koresh at the compound and informed him that it had an urgent message
for him and the other members of the compound, which message informed
them of an impending raid by ATF and other officials on the compound and
on David Koresh.''
	The lawsuit also alleges that the Tribune-Herald broke an agreement
with the ATF not to publish their series on the cult until the federal
agency had completed its investigation, which had been underway for
months.
	Lott, the Tribune-Herald editor, denied that there was ever any
agreement with the ATF not to publish the seven-part series which began
running the day before the raid was carried out 10 miles east of Waco.
	``The ATF knows that we had no such agreement. We notified the ATF
the afternoon before publication. We categorically deny that any of our
people informed those in the compound of any pending ATF action,'' he
said.
	Lott said Jack Killorin, chief ATF spokesman in Washington, has said
``on more than one occasion that our series was not to blame for the
tragic events of Feb. 28 at Mount Carmel.
	``The injuries to Agent Risenhoover and the deaths of and injuries to
others are regrettable. But they were not caused by this paper.''
	The Tribune-Herald had pressed local authorities to take action
against the cult because of the weapons known to be there. ``Local
authorities knew about it but had done nothing,'' Lott said in an
interview March 1.

From: [email protected] (BAHAA ELKOUSSY)
Subject: Policeman, 10 militants killed in shooutout in Egypt
Date: Wed, 17 Mar 93 16:06:44 PST

	CAIRO, Egypt (UPI) -- A police officer and 10 Muslim militants were
killed Wednesday in a raid and a shootout in the city of Assiut after
security forces battled with radicals holed up in an apartment block for
nine hours.
	Eleven other police officers and soldiers were injured in the pre-
dawn raid and ensuing shootout in the troubled city located 187 miles
south of Cairo.
	Police Capt. Abdel Rasoul Mohamed and 10 militants, including leader
Ahmed Zaki, were shot dead in the battle, the latest incident in the
ongoing war between security forces and Muslim radicals.
	A police source said the body of only one of the 10 militants killed
was found inside the building while the other nine were scatterd in a
street where they fell while fleeing a tenement.
	The militants tossed at least four explosive devices on police
circling the residential building, the source said. Explosions were
heard throughout the city. The militants exchanged fire with police from
the roof and other parts of the four-story building until they ran out
of ammunition, the source said.
	Zaki was wanted for planning and leading several attacks. He is
wanted for the recent ambush and killing of a police lieutenant colonel
and his 8-year-old son in Assiut last month.
	Police said they found arms, ammunition and explosives inside the
building.
	Police did not say how many arrests were made, but some reports put
the number at between 35 and 150.
	The latest clash came only hours after suspected militants bombed
seven tourist buses near the Egyptian Museum in Cairo's Tahrir square,
the capital's busiest point. There were no injuries reported in the
attack.
	As the battle in Assiut was being fought the Gama'a El Islamiya
Organization claimed responsibilty for the bus attack in a statement
sent to news agencies in Cairo. It said the attack was in retaliation
for the police raid on Al Rahma mosque of Aswan earlier this month,
which left 11 Muslim fundamentalists dead and many more wounded.
	In October militants began targeting tourists in a move to turn up
the heat on the secular, moderate government of President Hosni Mubarak
they hope to topple and replace with an Iranian-style government that
imposes Islamic law on everyday life.
	Three tourists have been killed and two dozen others wounded in the
campaign, while more than 100 Egyptians have died in the attacks and
clashes involving the militants since March 1992.
	Most of the violence occurred in and around Assiut, but the war
spilled over late last year into different areas of the country,
including Cairo and lately the Nile River tourist city of Aswan, 560
miles south of the capital.
	Mubarak and top security aides have repeatedly vowed in recent months
to crush the militant movement, but the Muslim radicals, who also vowed
retaliation for the killings of their comrades in numerous police raids,
continued to pose a serious threat.
	Meanwhile, diplomatic sources here confirmed reports that about 50
executives of U.S. firms operating in Egypt met earlier this week with
officials of the U.S. Embassy to discuss the security situation
following threats by militants against foreign concerns.
	Security has been increased to proctect foreign firms and residential
areas in Cairo and elsewhere in the country.

From: [email protected] (CHIT TUN)
Subject: Burmese bereave death of high priest with prodigious memory 
Date: Thu, 18 Mar 93 3:41:07 PST

	RANGOON, Burma (UPI) -- Millions of Burmese have attended the
elaborate state funeral this week of a Buddhist high priest who was able
to recite from memory more than 8,000 pages of religious texts, state-
run media reported Thursday.
	The venerable Mingun Sayadaw, secretary-general of State High
Priests' Council, died Feb. 9, at aged 82, at his monastery.
	With a prodigious memory, Mingun Sayadaw had amazed the Buddhist
world while in his fifties by reciting from memory more than 8,000 pages
of Buddhist scriptural texts in the ancient Indian language of Pali, a
feat which earned him an entry in the Guinness Book of Records.
	Born a peasant in a village near Sagaing, he entered the Buddhist
monastic order in his early teens and devoted his life to the study and
propagation of Buddhism.
	As secretary-general of the State High Priests Council, he played a
leading role in the ``purification'' of the monastic order -- which means
prevention of members of the order from straying into worldly, non-
religious pursuits like politics.
	Soon after his death, the government announced that his remains will
be honored with all the traditional ceremonials of a state funeral for a
high Buddhist priest.
	These ceremonials began on Feb. 15, when his remains, kept in a
gilded glass coffin, were removed from his monastery to a temporary
prayer hall nearby to enable his numerous disciples to pay their last
respects.
	On Saturday, the remains were taken to a special pandal erected in
the wide funeral grounds a short distance away, where dozens of
decorated reception pandals had sprung up to receive and feed thousands
of people coming to the funeral from various parts of the country.
	Aired on the national television network, this ceremonial transfer of
the remains to a new place was conducted with great pomp and pageantry
as demanded by tradition.
	Local dignitaries headed by military officials took turns to carry
the coffin, which was shaded on both sides by white and gold umbrellas,
and followed by a long procession of Burmese princes and princesses in
their resplendent royal costumes, the devas (gods) in their blazoning
celestial accouterments, saffron-robed high Buddhist priests and nuns,
and lay devotees of men and women in reddish-brown garb chanting a
solemn Buddhist elegy.
	The remains moved in turn to other special pandals every day until
March 17.
	Fireworks were released every night in the funeral grounds and while
religious sermons were delivered by eminent high priests at the pandals,
Burmese classical music and theatrical troupes gave performances in the
open air.
	Public donations to the funeral totaled over $1.6 million (10 million
kyats), and free meals were provided by donors to everyone attending the
funeral.
	More than three million people were fed on Sunday and Monday alone,
according to a report in the government-run Working Peoples Daily.
	The remains were to be cremated, and the ashes will be put into a
gilded earthen pot and floated down the Irrawaddy on Friday in such a
way that it sinks at a designated point in the river downstream.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: FBI challenges Koresh's leadership
Date: Thu, 18 Mar 93 16:02:00 PST

	WACO, Texas (UPI) -- Federal agents challenged cult leader David
Koresh to allow more of his followers to leave his fortified compound,
driving three buses into the camp to pick them up, but he backed out,
officials said Thursday.
	During a news briefing, FBI Special Agent Bob Ricks said agents are
growing increasingly frustrated with talks aimed at ending the 19-day
siege that began Feb. 28 when four federal agents died in a raid on the
Branch Davidians.
	Authorities were convinced Wednesday that Koresh was going to permit
as many as 20 to 30 more people to leave the camp, and they challenged
him to show his leadership and remove more of his followers from ``harms
way.''
	``We drove three buses up to the compound and said, 'They're here.
We're ready to take them out. It's time for you to exercise some
leadership and let these people go,'' Ricks said.
	Koresh failed to follow through, the FBI spokesman said. He said
negotiators believe he was unable to ``handle this direct confrontation.
'' He said Koresh broke off the phone conversation, said he had to go
the restroom, and never returned to the phone.
	``We were very hopeful that people would come out,'' Ricks said.
	Efforts to win a second face-to-face meeting with Koresh's aides
outside the compound have also failed to materialize. ``It might be fear
on Mr. Koresh that he would not have complete control of those meetings,
'' he said.
	Despite early reports that Koresh's condition had worsened, Ricks
said the 33-year-old leader is again ``moving around'' and in control of
the compound. Koresh says he suffered a gunshot wound to his left side
in the raid.
	The FBI still seeks a peaceful surrender of the 105 people inside the
fortified Branch Davidian camp, and Ricks said they feel no urgency to
use force. He said there is no doubt casualties would be heavy for
Koresh.
	``We're very concerned that as part of Koresh's grand scheme that he
would like to see a large number of his people die which would be
justification for his pronouncements and the fulfillment of the
scriptures,'' Ricks said.
	Agents say 17 of the 105 people who remain in the camp are children,
all of them either biological or adopted chidlren of Koresh who
reportedly has up to 15 wives.
	The siege began Feb. 28 when a raid by the federal Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms to serve a search warrant for illegal firearms went
awry. Four ATF agents were killed and at least three cult members were
fatally wounded.
	Meanwhile, a U.S. magistrate refused Wednesday to release one of the
two Branch Davidians who left the compound March 12. They are being held
as material witnesses in the federal investigation.
	U.S. Magistrate Dennis Green ordered Oliver Gyarfas Jr., 19, of
Australia held after a hearing Wednesday afternoon.
	Green ruled on Thursday that Kathryn Schroeder, a 34-year-old mother
of four, should be freed from jail. An assistant U.S. Attorney objected,
however, appealed Green's ruling to the federal court.
	Green ordered that Schroeder be held, pending a ruling by a federal
judge on his ruling, with further proceedings in Green's court set for
next Wednesday.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Student suing over 'immoral conduct' expulsion
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 93 9:46:16 PST

	NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (UPI) -- A black student expelled from a Christian
school for rumors that he was having an affair with a white student is
suing the school and its principal for $3 million.
	The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Newport News Circuit Court, says Willie
Corey, a senior, was kicked out of Denbigh Baptist Christian School
because of rumors that he had sex with a white student.
	Corey had been scheduled to graduate in December and go on to Liberty
University on a basketball scholarship, but the lawsuit said Corey will
not graduate and will not be eligible for the scholarship.
	Corey and his mother, Sandra Corey, brought the lawsuit against the
school and its principal, the Rev. Dennis Chappell.
	The school also expelled Corey's white girlfriend, Beth Stewart, but
she can return in the fall and will be allowed to pass to the next
grade.
	Chappell refused to comment on the case Friday. David Dalton,
Chappell's attorney, told United Press International in a telephone
interview that his client was not aware of the lawsuit until he saw a
newspaper story about it. He said the school expelled Corey through
proper channels and handled the case no differently than any other.
	``The school has done absolutely nothing wrong,'' Dalton said. ``I
think it's a case of (Corey's) mother being upset.''
	Chappell called Sandra Corey in January and told her of rumors
alleging the students had sex over Easter break last year. Chappell told
Sandra Corey her son was being expelled for ``immoral conduct'' after he
was seen by other students kissing Stewart on a school ski trip earlier
this year.
	``He said that the ski trip showed that the rumors about Easter break
must be true,'' Sandra Corey said.
	Corey denies having sex with Stewart. His mother said she believes
other parents pressured officials at the predominantly white school to
make an example of Corey because he was dating a white girl.
	``It really hurts because I like the people (at the school),'' she
said. ``But I believe the bottom line was race.''
	Corey has remained out of school since being expelled. Sandra Corey
told The Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk her son had his heart set on
attending a Christian college after high school.
	``But if you have an immorality charge against you, you can kiss a
Christian college good-bye,'' she said.
	The school interviewed neither Corey nor his mother to determine
whether the allegations were true. The lawsuit says the expulsion was
based on a rumor and asks that the school immediately reinstate Corey so
he can finish his senior year.
	The charges, according to the lawsuit, damaged Corey's ``good
reputation'' and were made with ``actual malice,'' or a disregard for
whether the statement was true.
	A hearing is set for March 24.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: ATF mum on report of two more leaving compound
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 93 20:00:17 PST

	WACO, Texas (UPI) -- The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms late
Friday refused to confirm media reports that two more people left the
Branch Davidian compound near Waco, as the siege approached its 21st
day.
	WFAA-TV in Dallas and KRLD radio reported late Friday that unnamed
federal officials said the two left the fortified compound at about 8:30
p.m. Friday. It was not known whether the individuals were male or
female, adults or children.
	ATF spokeswoman Francesca Perot said the agency could not confirm or
deny the reports and would discuss the matter at its regularly scheduled
news briefing Saturday.
	If the reports are correct, the number of people in the compound will
drop to 103. Agents have said there were 105 people in the camp, 17 of
them children. No one had left the compound since March 12.
	Earlier Friday, FBI Special Agent Bob Ricks said negotiators had 
``the most positive conversation'' in nearly three weeks with cult
leader David Koresh and were encouraged that a peaceful settlement of
the 20-day siege is possible.
	Ricks said that in a talk with negotiators early Friday, Koresh
seemed more willing to discuss issues that can bring an end to the
siege.
	``We view that as the most positive conversation we have had with
David Koresh since March 2,'' he said. ``The tone changed, he indicated
that it was his desire to get this matter resolved.''
	On March 2, Koresh promised to surrender with his followers if his
58-minute sermon was broadcast, according to the FBI. After the
statement was aired, Koresh backed out, saying God told him to wait for
a message.
	Ricks said that in the conversation early Friday, Koresh said he had
no intention of committing suicide because then his message would never
get out, his major goal. He asked for more time, which Ricks interpreted
to mean days rather than weeks.
	``What I do see is the complete change in the demeanor and active
participation by Koresh,'' the agent said. ``It is an indication that he
is willing to work this out. Let us hope nothing interferes with this
process.''
	Ricks said negotiators view the Friday conversation as encouraging
but not a ``breakthrough'' because promising signs have proved false in
the past.
	Agents also sent in some news magazines and copies of the warrants
that agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms attempted to
serve Feb. 28 when four ATF agents were killed and three sect members
fatally wounded.
	Ricks said officials debated whether to send in the news magazines
because they believe Koresh seeks publicity, but they decided to do it 
``as a bridge'' to get a positive response from him and move
negotiations along.
	Federal officials are using new tactics. Two large loud speakers were
set up near the fortified compound Thursday night. They began
broadcasting recordings of negotitations between Koresh and the FBI.
	Ricks said the broadcasts make sure everyone inside knows what has
been discussed with Koresh and his aides during the 20 days. Agents are
concerned that Koresh does not inform all of his followers of the
content of the talks.
	FBI and ATF agents also continued to bathe the compound in bright
lights overnight. The FBI said the lights offer protection to the agents
surrounding the buildings because vision from inside is obscured.
Electricity to the camp was cut off a week ago but Koresh is believed to
have portable radios.
	ATF spokeswoman Francesca Perot said late Friday that Department of
Public Safety troopers stopped four people in separate incidents at a
police checkpoint on the road leading to the compound.
	Perot said a woman who told officers she wanted to go to the compound
to join the Branch Davidians was turned away and returned to her family
in the Waco area.
	Later Friday, she said, DPS troopers questioned three young men who
approached the checkpoint and were found to have three firearms in their
vehicle. Perot said no arrests were made by late Friday.
	Authorities did not release the names of any of the individuals
questioned.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: FBI sees new hope that Koresh might release more cultists
Date: Sat, 20 Mar 93 10:11:58 PST

	WACO, Texas (UPI) -- FBI agents expressed hope Saturday that a 
``breakthrough'' might be at hand in the lengthening standoff with the
Branch Davidian cult, based on a 4-hour telephone conversation with cult
leader David Koresh.
	Special Agent Dick Swensen said two men left the compound Friday
night and he identified them as Brad Branch, 34, and Kevin Whitecliff,
31, both United States citizens.
	``This brings...the total number of persons to 27 who have exited the
compound through negotiations -- 21 children, three women, and three men,
'' Swensen said. ``According to Koresh, 17 children, 46 women and 40 men
remain inside the compound.''
	Swensen said Branch and Whitecliff were being held as material
witnesses in the McLennan County jail in Waco pending a hearing before a
U.S. magistrate some time Saturday. The magistrate will determine if
their hearings will be public or held in the jail.
	He said they were not among the cult's leaders and to his knowledge
played no active role among the group. He said he thinks they left
because they realized ``this was not something we were not going to walk
away from.''
	Asked what Koresh's reaction is when people leave the compound,
Swensen said, ``He has been a big part of the negotiations at the time
people do leave, so the assumption is that he has given his full
approval...and we don't detect any feeling that he feels less in charge.
''
	The standoff began Feb. 28 when agents of the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms attempted to serve arrest warrants on leaders of
the heavily armed compound for weapons violations. Four ATF agents and
three sect members were killed in gun battles.
	Heavy rain fell on the Waco area Friday and people were seen emerging
from the compound to collect water. Swensen said negotiators have not
been able to determine the cultists' access to water, but he thihks
there is a well on the premesis.
	Asked where the negotiations have gone in the past 24 hours, Swensen
said, ``They're about the same. We're hopeful that this will lead to a
resolution, but we've been down that road before....''
	On March 2, Koresh promised to surrender with his followers if his
58-minute sermon was broadcast, according to the FBI. After the
statement was aired, Koresh backed out, saying God told him to wait for
a message.
	However, Swensen said Koresh is now alluding to the final end of the
seige, and is now ``talking large numbers'' of people to be released.
	Earlier this week, Koresh told negotiators he was not only awaiting
word from God on releasing his followers, but was also watching for
certain astrological signs.
	Swensen said, ``He has not gone into any detail on what astrological
signs he was looking for, all he wanted was the word of God. I think
there has been a serries of things that have either happened or are
about to happen that might be in his mind.
	``I don't know what his thoughts are but we notice we have a new moon
coming up on the 23rd; the vernal equinox today, which has no
significance within the religion; and there was a ''Guitar Comet`` which
has some significance within the compound, but what the significance is,
I don't know.''

From: [email protected] (CHARLES RIDLEY)
Subject: Pope warns U.S. Catholics against selective obedience to church
Date: Sat, 20 Mar 93 14:02:01 PST

	VATICAN CITY (UPI) -- Pope John Paul II warned U.S. Catholics Saturday
that they cannot pick and choose which parts of church teaching to obey
and still remain ``good Catholics.''
	``The moral, psychological and cultural pressures of life in the
United States today are tempting some in the church to compromise her
teachings and her discipline, to the grave detriment of souls,'' the
pope said.
	``In a climate of religious individualism, some assume the right to
decide for themselves, even in important matters of faith, which
teachings to accept, while ignoring those they find unacceptable,'' he
said.
	``Selectivity in adhering to authoritative church teaching...is
incompatible with being a good Catholic,'' he said.
	The pope spoke during a special audience for U.S. bishops from
Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin who are on ``ad limina'' (to the
threshold) visits to the Holy See. Catholic bishops are required to make
such visits at least every five years.
	In his address John Paul cited no specific instances of failure to
obey church teaching. But the most widespread disobedience concerns
birth control. Many otherwise devout Catholic couples refuse to accept
the Catholic Church's total ban on artificial means of limiting the
number of their offspring.
	John Paul has frequently spoken out against what he has termed 
``cafeteria religion,'' in which Catholics go along with parts of church
teaching they like and reject aspects they do not like.
	``It is the bishops' task to call the whole Catholic community to
accept in its fullness the church's authoritative teaching on faith and
morals,'' he told the American bishops.
	``Only when your teaching is clear, unambiguous and united will it
rise above the clash of conflicting opinions with the forcefulness and
power of the truth,'' the pontiff said.
	``Undoubtedly the greatest service you can render to the church at
this present time is to make every effort to present anew the fullness
and beauty of the apostolic faith, and thereby end the disharmony and
confusion produced by teachings on questions of faith, morals and
discipline which are at odds with the church's Magisterium (teaching),''
he said.
	The pope said he was looking forward to his planned visit to Denver,
Colo., in August to celebrate the church's annual ``World Youth Day.''
He said it would be ``a magnificent occasion to proclaim anew to young
people the saving mystery of Christ.''

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Ramos orders safe recovery of Spanish priest
Location: philippines

	MANILA, Philippines (UPI) -- President Fidel Ramos ordered law
enforcement agencies Sunday to conduct operations and negotiations for
the safe recovery of a Spanish Catholic priest held captive by suspected
Muslim bandits in the southern Philippines.
	``Safe recovery of Father Bernardo Blangco is paramount,'' Ramos said
in his directive to Secretaries Renato De Villa and Rafael Alunan of the
Defense Minstry and the Interior ministries.
	Ramos also ordered the two top officials to coordinate with the
private sector and the Spanish embassy in Manila in undertaking the
negotiations with the kidnappers.
	Blanco, 65, of Aliste, in the Spanish province of Zamora, was
snatched at gunpoint Thursday, in Lantawan town, in Basilan, 550 miles
south of Manila.
	On Saturday, two soldiers were wounded when government security
forces clashed with the suspected kidnappers. Casualties among the
alleged kidnappers were not known.
	Blanco was at least the fourth foreign Roman Catholic figure abducted
in the Muslim-dominated southern Philippines during the past five
months. The others, a missionary from Chicago, and two Spanish Nuns were
released unharmed and without ransom.
	Church officials said negotiations for the release of Blanco is
ongoing. However, they stressed that the church's policy is not to give
any ransom to the kidnappers.
	Blanco, a member of the Claretian Order, has been in the Phlippines
for the past 17 years and has been receiving threats in recent months,
officials said.
	More than 400 people, including at least 26 foreigners, have been
abducted since 1988 in the southern Philippines, the military said.
	The kidnappings were attributed to former separatist rebels who
resorted to banditry after their armed struggle for an independent state
fizzled in the early 1980s.

From: [email protected] (PHILIP WILLAN)
Subject: Pope canonizes first Chilean saint
Date: Sun, 21 Mar 93 6:02:33 PST

	VATICAN CITY (UPI) -- Pope John Paul II Sunday canonized Teresa de
Jesus de Los Andes, a Carmelite nun who died at the age of 19,
proclaiming her the first Chilean saint at a joyous ceremony in St.
Peter's Basilica.
	The pope also canonized Claudine Thevenet, the founder of a religious
order who lived in France at the time of the French Revolution and who
lost two of her brothers to the guillotine.
	Canonization is an infallible declaration that the person concerned
practiced Christian virtue to a heroic degree and is worthy of honor and
imitation by all the Catholic faithful.
	John Paul, dressed in gold vestments, concelebrated mass with 64
priests and bishops from Chile, France, Colombia, Spain and India at an
altar bedecked with flowers.
	The ceremony was attended by a delegation from Chile headed by Leonor
Oyarzun de Aylwin, wife of Chilean President Patrizio Aylwin, the
president of the Chilean Senate, Gabriel Valdes Subercaseaux, and three
Chilean government ministers.
	The pope said the two new saints were a light for the world.
	``These ''daughters of the light`` distinguished themselves as
witnesses to Christ in the world,'' he said.
	The pope said the canonization of Teresa de Los Andes, born Juanita
Fernandez Solar July 13, 1900 in Santiago, was ``a splendid flower
created by the Good News and the grace of holy baptism'' in the 500th
anniversary of the evangelization of the Americas.
	Teresa de Los Andes was a member of a wealthy Catholic family who
discovered her vocation to the religious life at the age of 14 but only
survived for 11 months in the Carmelite convent in the town of Los
Andes, which she entered May 7, 1919.
	The pope said she offered ``a limpid example of a life which
proclaims to the men and women of today that the joy, freedom and
complete fulfilment of the human person lies in loving, adoring and
serving God.''
	The pope quoted from a letter written by Saint Teresa in 1919: ``We
are joint redeemers of the world and the redemption of souls cannot take
place without the cross.''
	He said the Carmelite mystic showed a world where people struggle for
power and domination that true happiness came from being the last and
the servant of all.
	``To a youth constantly bombarded by the messages of an eroticized
culture and to a society which confuses genuine love with the hedonistic
use of the other, this young virgin from Los Andes proclaims the beauty
and blessedness that comes from pure hearts.''
	The new French saint, Claudine Thevenet, lived between 1774 and 1837
and founded the religious Order of Jesus and Mary, which now has 1,800
members in 25 countries.
	The order specializes in caring for abandoned children and providing
them with a Catholic education.
	The pope said the execution of her two brothers, who were guillotined
during the French Revolution, lay behind her vocation to help those who
were ``wounded by life.''

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: 'Maybe Daddy did it'
Date: Sun, 21 Mar 93 7:30:31 PST

	DALLAS (UPI) -- The young son of a former Methodist minister who once
told a friend ``maybe Daddy did it'' is to be a witness in his father's
trial for the attempted murder of his mother in April 1987.
	Dallas County District Attorney John Vance said Ryan Railey, who was
5 years old when his mother was attacked in the garage of the family
home in April 1987, will be the only eyewitness to testify in the trial
of Walker Railey that begins Monday in San Antonio.
	Railey, whose wife, Margaret ``Peggy'' Railey, was nearly strangled
in the attack and remains in a vegetative state, left Dallas for
California only months after the attack and was working in a Los Angeles
church when he was indicted last August.
	Margaret Railey is in a nursing home near Tyler and her son could
provide the only eyewitness account in a case built chiefly on
circumstantial evidence.
	The trial was moved to San Antonio because of heavy media coverage of
the case in the Dallas area.
	First Assistant District Attorney Norm Kinne said Ryan once told a
family friend ``Maybe Daddy did it,'' but at other times told a
psychologist and investigators that his mother was attacked by a balding
``man in a mask.''
	The boy has also said there may have been more than one attacker.
	It will be the first criminal court proceeding against Railey, who
invoked the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination before a
grand jury in July 1987. The following year, his wife's family won a
lawsuit accusing Railey of attempted murder.
	Ryan, now 11, and his 8-year-old sister, Megan, are in the permanent
custody of John Yarrington, the former music director of First United
Methodist Church where Railey was chief pastor. Yarrington and his wife,
Diane, live in Little Rock, Ark.
	Vance said Ryan's testimony will help but that he believes
prosecutors have enough circumstantial evidence to convict Railey.
	Without an eyewitness, the case would depend on Railey's actions on
the night of the attack and during the investigation:
	--telephone messages he left on the telephone message machine at his
home from calls he made from his car phone;
	--inconsistencies in his accounts of where he was the night of the
attack;
	--his attempted suicide after he was questioned and a suicide note in
which he referred to himself as the ``baddest of the bad.''

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Seven leave cult compound
Date: Sun, 21 Mar 93 16:47:22 PST

	WACO, Texas (UPI) -- Seven more people left the besieged Branch
Davidian compound Sunday, the largest number of adults to leave the
fortified camp in a single day since the siege began 22 days ago,
officials said.
	About 2:30 p.m. local time Sunday a car passed by reporters on a road
near the compound ruled by cult leader David Koresh. An elderly man and
two women could be seen in the car with federal officers. Four women had
left earlier in the day.
	Federal officials told reporters Sunday morning their continuing,
direct talks with Koresh have boosted their confidence that the siege
that began in a bloody gunfight with cult members Feb. 28 can end
peacefully and soon.
	Two women were the first to come out about 1 a.m. Sunday. They were
later identified by federal officials as Annette Richards, 64, a
Canadian, and Victorine Hollingsworth, 59, a British national.
	During a news briefing at 10:30 a.m., two more women left the
compound. They were identified as Rita Riddle, 35, and Gladys Ottman,
67. Their nationalities were unknown.
	Then late Sunday, the FBI in Washington confirmed that an elderly man
and two women had left the compound Sunday afternoon. They were
identified as James Lawten, 70; Sheila Martin, 46, and Ofelia Santoyo,
62. Their nationalities were unknown.
	Hollingsworth was under treatment for a chronic heart condition at
Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center in Waco. A doctor said she was in
stable condition and would probably be hospitalized three to five days.
	All seven will initially be held as material witnesses, according to
federal officials. Detention hearings are scheduled Monday for some of
them.
	A total of 96 people remain inside the heavily armed compound, 17 of
them children, according to figures supplied by Koresh. Thirty-four
people have left, 21 of them children.
	FBI Special Agent Dick Swensen said he did not now why Richards and
Hollingsworth decided to leave. He said in the case of Hollingsworth, it
might have been due to her health. He said Koresh said she had either
been in bed or resting since the standoff started Feb. 28.
	``Negotiations are continuing with Koresh to peacefully resolve the
standoff. Negotiators last talked to Koresh at 3:20 this morning and had
spoken to him for quite a while before that,'' Swensen said.
	The special agent said Bible scriptures consumed some of the
continuing negotiations with Koresh, but he said the 33-year-old Branch
Davidian leader continues to talk about a peaceful resolution to the
standoff soon.
	Earlier this week, Koresh told negotiators he was not only awaiting
word from God when to leave his stronghold, but also watching for
astrological signs. He was not specific about what astrological signs he
was looking for.
	On March 2, Koresh promised to surrender with his followers if his
58-minute sermon was broadcast, according to the FBI. After the
statement was aired, Koresh backed out, saying God told him to wait for
a message.
	The standoff began Feb. 28 when agents of the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms tried to serve arrest warrants on sect members for
weapons violations. Four ATF agents and an unknown number of sect
members were killed.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: FBI disappointed more did not leave cult compound
Location: texas

	WACO, Texas (UPI) -- Federal authorities said Monday they were
disappointed that more people did not leave the besieged Branch Davidian
compound near Waco during the weekend.
	FBI Special Agent Bob Ricks said negotiators believed more people
would leave the fortified compound ruled by cult leader David Koresh.
Two left Friday and seven on Sunday. A total of 34 have left since the
siege began Feb. 28.
	Ricks said, ``We were led to believe we had a substantial number
coming out as a prelude to ending this situation. We're talking in terms
of days. Although we remain hopeful, I'd have to categorize yesterday as
disappointing.''
	Ricks said negotiations continue to peacefully resolve the 23-day
siege that cost the lives of four federal agents and an unknown number
of sect members. He said agents played a Buddhist chant from loud
speakers during the night.
	Ricks said 96 people remain inside the compound, according to Koresh.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Former Dallas preacher goes on trial
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 93 9:41:12 PST

	SAN ANTONIO (UPI) -- Jury selection began Monday in the attempted
murder trial of former Dallas minister Walker Railey, who is accused of
nearly killing his wife in an attack at the couple's home nearly six
years ago.
	Railey, 45, has insisted since the incident that he arrived home
early on the morning of April 21, 1987 to find Margaret ``Peggy'' Railey
in convulsions and nearly strangled on the garage floor. He steadfastly
denied he attacked his wife, who remains in a vegetative state in an
east Texas nursing home.
	The trial was moved 270 miles from Dallas to San Antonio because of
excessive media coverage of the case.
	Railey, whose promising career plunged after the attack, moved to
California only months later and eventually began work as an
administrator in a Los Angeles church.
	Dallas authorities arrested Railey at that church shortly after he
was indicted on an attempted murder charge in August 1992 and returned
him to Dallas. He pleaded not guilty.
	The prosecution is expected to key on inconsistencies in the first
account Railey gave to investigators. Advances in cellular technology
may help establish where Railey was when he made calls from his car
phone the night of the assault.
	Railey also failed to tell investigators that he telephoned and
visited his lover, Lucy Papillon, the night of the attack. Papillon, a
clinical psychologist, confirmed their affair in testimony before a
grand jury.
	The prosecution is expected to call dozens of witnesses, including
the couple's son, Ryan, who could provide the only eyewitness account in
a case based on circumstantial evidence.
	Ryan, now 11, once told a family friend ``Maybe Daddy did it,'' and
on other occasions said his mother was attacked by a balding man wearing
a mask. The boy has also said that there may have been more than one
attacker.
	The prosecution will also use as evidence messages Railey left on the
telephone message machine at his home from his car phone the night of
the attack, and his attempted suicide after he was questioned.
	Railey refused to testify under terms of the Fifth Amendment when he
appeared before a grand jury in July 1987.
	The following year, Peggy Railey's family won an $18 million civil
judgment against the preacher.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Former Dallas preacher goes on trial
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 93 14:37:54 PST

	SAN ANTONIO (UPI) -- Jury selection began Monday in the attempted
murder trial of former Dallas minister Walker Railey, who is accused of
nearly killing his wife in an attack at the couple's home nearly six
years ago.
	Railey, 45, has insisted since the incident that he arrived home
early on the morning of April 21, 1987 to find Margaret ``Peggy'' Railey
in convulsions and nearly strangled on the garage floor. He steadfastly
denied he attacked his wife, who remains in a vegetative state in an
east Texas nursing home.
	The trial was moved 270 miles from Dallas to San Antonio because of
excessive media coverage of the case.
	Seventy-five prospective jurors filled out questionnaires Monday.
Lawyers will begin questioning them Tuesday. A jury may be seated by
Wednesday.
	State District Judge Pat McDowell ruled Monday lawyers cannot discuss
an $18 million civil judgment Peggy Railey's family won against the
former preacher. Lawyers will also be barred from discussing his suicide
attempt or his alleged infidelity during the trial expected to last two
to three weeks.
	Railey, whose promising career as pastor of the high-profile First
United Methodist Church plunged after the attack, moved to California
only months later and eventually began work as an administrator in a Los
Angeles church.
	Dallas authorities arrested Railey at that church shortly after he
was indicted on an attempted murder charge in August 1992 and returned
him to Dallas. He pleaded not guilty.
	The prosecution is expected to key on inconsistencies in the first
account Railey gave to investigators. Advances in cellular technology
may help establish where Railey was when he made calls from his car
phone the night of the assault.
	Railey also failed to tell investigators that he telephoned and
visited his lover, Lucy Papillon, the night of the attack. Papillon, a
clinical psychologist, confirmed their affair in testimony before a
grand jury.
	The prosecution is expected to call dozens of witnesses, including
the couple's son, Ryan, who could provide the only eyewitness account in
a case based largely on circumstantial evidence.
	Ryan, now 11, once told a family friend ``Maybe Daddy did it,'' and
on other occasions said his mother was attacked by a balding man wearing
a mask. The boy has also said that there may have been more than one
attacker.
	The prosecution will also use as evidence messages Railey left on the
telephone message machine at his home from his car phone the night of
the attack, and his attempted suicide after he was questioned.
	Railey refused to testify under terms of the Fifth Amendment when he
appeared before a grand jury in July 1987.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Catholic newspapers reject ad for new Greeley book
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 93 15:19:12 PST

	CHICAGO (UPI) -- Diocesan newspapers in nine of the nation's most
populous Roman Catholic communities have rejected an advertisement for
the Rev. Andrew Greeley's new book, ``Fall from Grace,'' Greeley's
publicist said Monday.
	The book, which is due out Wednesday, deals with sexual abuse by
priests.
	Catholic newspapers in Boston, Brooklyn, New York, Chicago, Los
Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Miami and St. Louis rejected an ad
for the book, the publicist said.
	``Our Sunday Visitor,'' a national Catholic publication, also
rejected the ad but the newspaper for the Milwaukee diocese and three
independent publications, ``The National Catholic Reporter,'' ``America''
and ``U.S. Catholic'' agreed to run it.
	``I am dismayed that 30 years after the Vatican Council, Catholic
editors are still afraid to trust the Catholic laity to make their own
decisions about reading,'' Greeley said in a statement. ``They permit
the most extreme Catholic conservatives to, in effect, censor the
advertisements.
	``If they had read the book and decided it was inappropriate for the
Catholic press, that might have been all right. But it was the reference
to sexual abuse of children that offended them. Censorship is bad
enough. Even worse is to pretend to their readers that the problem of
sexual abuse of children by priests does not exist.''
	The editor of one of the papers that rejected the ad said it arrived
on the same day stories broke about alleged sexual activities of the
archbishop of New Mexico.
	Greeley has written 24 best-selling novels and more than 100 books
and articles on sociology and issues related to religion and the
Catholic church.

From: [email protected] (AL SCHOCH)
Subject: Abortion opponents vow to continue protests
Approved: [email protected]

	TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (UPI) -- The national leader of Operation Rescue
said Monday that anti-abortion protestors will continue to picket
clinics even if the Florida Legislature passes a law providing better
protection for women who seek medical services.
	``The Supreme Court said that the right to free speech is greater
than the right to an abortion,'' said Rev. Keith Tucci, executive
director of the Charleston, S.C.-based group. ``This bill is not going
to silence us.''
	Tucci said Operation Rescue is dedicated to non-violence, and said
that out of the 72,000 reported arrests at different abortion clinic
protests in the U.S. since 1987, no one has been convicted of an act of
violence.
	He said his group's protests do not constitute harassment because
demonstrators are simply voicing dissent.
	``We have been amazingly successful to promote steadfastly a spirit
of non-violence that has saturated the ranks and has led to a decrease
in clinic-related violence, contrary to popular opinion, of course,'' he
said.
	The bill now in the Legislature calls for added protection for people
who want access to abortion clinics and other medical facilities.
	It passed the Florida House last week but has not been considered by
the Senate.
	Tucci later attempted to to discuss the proposed legislation with
Senate bill sponsor Jim Boczar, D-Sarasota. The meeting turned into an
unfriendly confrontation.
	``It was bizarre,'' said Tucci of his unscheduled visit with Boczar.
``If others hadn't been there, I think he would have grabbed me by the
throat.''
	Tucci said Boczar shouted at him not to come into his office without
an appointment. He wound up being escorted from the Senate office
building by Capitol security.
	``He knew exactly who I was, and he cursed at me, called me a
blankety-blank horse's... you know,'' Tucci said.
	Sen. Boczar was unavailable for comment.
	The bill would charge protestors who intimidate employees or patients
directly outside medical facilities with a third-degree felony.
	``If you crush legal dissent, you are giving opportunity to people
who want to take things into their own hands,'' Tucci said. ``And that's
a frightening possibility.''
	``We were kept out of the testimony (on the bill) and were not able
to counter some of the testimony that went on that was -- I'll be nice
and say it was fabricated,'' Tucci said.
	He claimed the bill, coupled with this month's shooting of a
physician at a Pensacola abortion clinic, has led to a smear campaign
against abortion opponents.
	Michael Griffin has been charged with the shooting death of Dr. David
Gunn.
	``We are the very group that says life is precious, life has dignity,
nobody should be able to take life based on their own choice,'' Tucci
said. ``To be painted together (with Griffin) because we have the same
political or maybe religious view on it is unfair.''
	He said since the shooting, people driving by abortion clinic
protests have made gestures at demonstrators.
	``They have whipped people into a frenzy and they are going to
provoke violence on the other side,'' he said.
	Tucci said the proposed law would likely be declared unconstitutional
because it unfairly targets free speech rights.
	He said Operation Rescue is prepared to challenge the law in court
but until it is overturned, protests will continue.
	Tucci said his group will figure out different ways to prevent access
to a clinic, such as blocking a street or a bridge, instead of entering
the clinic or standing on clinic property.

From: [email protected] (RIC CLARK)
Subject: Catholic man injured in Belfast bomb blast
Date: 23 Mar 93 12:57:00 GMT

	BELFAST, Northern Ireland (UPI) -- A Catholic man who picked up a
package outside a friend's house in north Belfast Tuesday was seriously
injured when the parcel exploded, the Royal Ulster Constabulary said.
	Two other bombs in the same area were made harmless by security
forces.
	The 24-year-old Catholic man suffered severe injuries to his arm and
upper body when he lifted the bomb outside the home of a friend on
Antrim road, 15 miles north of central Belfast.
	Witnesses said he was carrying the package into the house when it
exploded, throwing him through the door into the garden.
	A local businessman, Eugene Cassidy, helped comfort the injured man.
	``When I heard the explosion I ran out and saw a body lying in the
garden,'' Cassidy said. ``It was covered in blood. A district nurse was
already there trying to help him. I was told he saw the package and
picked it up. It exploded as he was bringing it into the house.''
	Joe Austin, the North Belfast representative of the IRA's political
wing Sinn Fein, claimed the attack had been carried out by Protestant
paramilitaries as part of an ongoing campaign of intimidation against
Catholics in the area.
	Two other suspect devices in north Belfast were dealt with by
explosive experts.
	A high rise block of flats occupied by Catholics 2 miles from the
city center was evacuated while one device under a nearby parked car was
destroyed in a controlled explosion.
	Another device was found in a waste bin at Carlisle Circus, half a
mile from the block of flats. It was also safely disposed of.
	Protestant paramilitaries, who maintain they are defending
Protestants against Irish Republican Army aggression, have been
responsible for hundreds of killings in Northern Ireland.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Despite summit, restrictions placed on visas into Bangladesh
Date: 23 Mar 93 13:03:51 GMT

	DHAKA, Bangladesh (UPI) -- Doubts loom over the fate of a planned
summit of South Asian leaders scheduled for April 10-11, as more Islamic
fundamentalist groups threaten to stage demonstrations against Indian
Prime Minister Narasimha Rao.
	Foreign Minsitry officials view the internal threat to the summit
slated to be held in the Bangladesh capital as a ``real worry,'' as
steps are taken to minimize threats originating outside the country's
frontiers.
	The Ministry of Home Affairs sent messages last week to all
Bangladesh embassies and missions abroad, clamping restrictions on visas
for citizens of South Asian countries. The move followed a security
alert in the region in the wake of a series of terrorist bomb attacks in
Indian cities of Bombay and Calcutta that left nearly 400 dead.
	A Home Ministry official said Tuesday that issuing of visas for South
Asian citizens has not been stopped. ``We have placed restrictions,'' he
said. ``From here on, all visa applications from citizens of South Asian
countries will have to be forwarded to Dhaka for security clearance.''
	Western diplomatic sources said Tuesday that foreign ministry
officials have told them that their citizens would not be affected by
the restrictions.
	``There was a lot of confusion about whether the restrictions would
apply to all or only South Asian countries. Now that has been cleared
up,'' one European diplomat said.
	The diplomat said Bangladesh's decision ``was perfectly legitimate as
the threat of terrorists, particularly from Sri Lanka, Punjab or
Kashmir, mounting operations in Dhaka during the SAARC summit is a real
one.''
	The seventh summit of the eight-year-old, seven-nation SAARC,
orginally scheduled for Dec. 12-13 last year, was postponed until Jan.
13-14 due to Rao's inability to attend following the destruction of a
mosque in Ayodhya. It was postponed for the second time Jan. 10 when Rao
was again unable to attend.
	The second postponement caused India and Bangladesh relations to take
a nose-dive, as Indian officials expressed concern about the anti-India
frenzy stirred by fundamentalist forces in Bangladesh, and Dhaka's
alleged inability to guarantee security of Rao.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Trenton man admits robbing 29 churches
Date: Tue, 23 Mar 93 15:02:34 PST

	TRENTON, N.J. (UPI) -- A New Jersey man, who apparently believed it
was better to receive than to give, has confessed to looting 29 churches
in Trenton, N.J., and nearby communities, police said.
	The man, Derrick Conover, 25, of Trenton, also admitted that he had
robbed a synagogue, nine schools and one home.
	Conover, in an appearance Monday before Superior Court Judge Maria
Sypek, pleaded guilty to 41 counts of burglary. He faces up to 10 years
in prison.
	Authorities said Conover began his crusade last year when he broke
into a Trenton church and took a microwave oven and other electronic
items. The rash of robberies in Trenton, Hamilton and Ewing continued
through June, with one church being hit twice.
	Authorities said he stole ``thousands of dollars'' worth of blank
checks, cooking equipment, electronics and other items that were fenced
to support an alleged drug habit.
	``Anything he could find he took,'' Hamilton Det. Robert Meyers told
The Times of Trenton. ``He was real busy. He said it was worse than
having a job.''

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Koresh rejects offer of media access; another sect member leaves
Date: Tue, 23 Mar 93 15:23:13 PST

	WACO, Texas (UPI) -- Cult leader David Koresh rejected a written offer
of media access conditioned on his surrender and another one of his
followers left the compound Tuesday, the 24th day of the siege, federal
officials said.
	FBI Special Agent Bob Ricks said a letter delivered to Koresh late
Monday offered him access to his followers after his surrender and
access to the Christian Broadcasting Network. He said Koresh rejected it
``out of hand''.
	Ricks said Koresh offered no explanation. ``Basically, it was not
worth the paper it was written on,'' the FBI agent said.
	Ricks said another Koresh follower, identified as Livingston Fagan,
34, of Britain, walked out of the compound at about 10 a.m. Tuesday. A
total of 35 people, 21 of them children, have left the compound since
Feb. 28.
	Ricks said a total of 95 people, 17 of them children, remain inside,
according to figures supplied by Koresh.
	The siege began Feb. 28 when agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco
and Firearms attempted to serve search warrants for illegal firearms.
Four ATF agents and an unknown number of sect members died in the gun
battle.
	Ricks said there was an unspecified ``communications problem'' with
the compound Monday, apparently with the phone system. As a result, he
said a negotiator and a Koresh aide held a brief face-to-face meeting
outside.
	Negotiators continue to talk with Koresh, who now complains of 
``internal bleeding'' from a gunshot wound suffered Feb. 28, and they
hope that ``additional people'' may be released soon, he said.
	Ricks said Koresh expressed interest in using the Christian
Broadcasting Network, but he would also like access to the general news
media. ``We are saying he's not going to have that until he comes out,''
he said.
	Early in the siege on March 2, a taped, 58-minute Koresh statement
was broadcast by the same Christian network. Koresh promised to
surrender with his followers, but he reneged, saying God had told him to
wait for a message.
	Meanwhile, detention hearings will continue this week for nine of
Koresh's followers who left during the weekend. So far, none of them
have been released on bond by federal magistrates. They are being held
as material witnesses.

From: [email protected] (RIC CLARK)
Subject: Catholic man shot dead in Belfast
Date: Wed, 24 Mar 93 7:02:53 PST

	BELFAST, Northern Ireland (UPI) -- A gunman from a Protestant
paramilitary group shot and killed a Catholic father of six who supports
the IRA as the victim arrived for work at a builder's yard in west
Belfast, the Royal Ulster Constabulary said Wednesday.
	Police believe the victim, 44-year-old construction worker Peter
Gallagher, was killed as part of an escalating campaign by Protestant
paramilitary groups against supporters of the Irish Republican Army.
	The loyalist paramilitary group the Ulster Freedom Fighters claimed
responsibility for the killing in a telephone call to a local newspaper.
	Gallagher, who lived in Toomebridge, 25 miles north of Belfast, was a
member of Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Irish Republic Army. He
was killed shortly after he drove a van to the West Link Enterprise
Center, an industrial estate in Belfast where he worked.
	A lone gunman hiding behind bushes on the other side of security
fencing around the center shot Gallagher several times before escaping
on a bicycle.
	Gallagher was taken to hospital but pronounced dead on arrival, the
RUC spokesman said.
	Police later found a handgun at the scene of the killing, less than
500 yards from where police had been operating a vehicle checkpoint.
	Earlier another member of Sinn Fein and his family survived a bomb
attack at his home in the predominantly Catholic Ardoyne district in
north Belfast.
	The bomb was thrown through an upstairs bedroom window where the
man's wife was asleep. The intended target, Gerard McGuigan, had also
survived a previous attempt on his life when gunmen fired shots into his
home.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: FBI adds Christmas carols to mind war with Koresh
Date: Wed, 24 Mar 93 7:30:15 PST

	WACO, Texas (UPI) -- The FBI Wednesday added Christmas carols to the
arsenal of psychological weapons being used to force a peaceful end to
the 25-day-old siege of cult leader David Koresh and his followers.
	Reporters stationed nearly two miles away could near FBI loudspeakers
serenading Koresh with a selection of Christmas carols ranging from
Jingle Bells to Andy Williams' rendition of, ``The Most Wonderful Time
of the Year.
	In recent days, the FBI has used the speakers to play tape recordings
of their negotiations with Koresh and meditation chants of Tibetan monks
in an effort to pressure the 95 sect members to surrender and come out.
	Another Branch Davidian walked out Tuesday. Thirty-five have left
since an ill-fated raid Feb. 28 in which four federal agents were killed
in a gunfight with Koresh and his followers. An undetermined number of
cult members died.
	A total of 95 people, 17 of them children, remain inside, according
to figures supplied by Koresh.
	FBI Special Agent Bob Ricks said Tuesday that a letter delivered to
Koresh late Monday offered him access to his followers after his
surrender and access to the Christian Broadcasting Network. He said
Koresh rejected it ``out of hand''.
	Negotiators continue to talk with Koresh, who now complains of 
``internal bleeding'' from a gunshot wound suffered Feb. 28, and they
hope that ``additional people'' may be released soon, he said.
	Ricks said Koresh expressed interest in using the Christian
Broadcasting Network, but he would also like access to the general news
media. ``We are saying he's not going to have that until he comes out,''
he said.
	Early in the siege on March 2, a taped, 58-minute Koresh statement
was broadcast by the same Christian network. Koresh promised to
surrender with his followers, but he reneged, saying God had told him to
wait for a message.
	Access to the Koresh followers who have left the compound has been
restricted by the FBI, but two of them have called out from the McLellan
County Jail to KGBS radio talk show host Ron Engleman in Dallas.
	Brad Branch, 34, disputed ATF statements that an agent first went to
the front door of the compound Feb. 28, announced they had a search
warrant and that the cultists fired the first shots in the bloody
gunfight.
	``All of a sudden two trucks come barreling down our drive. I'm
standing there at the front door, and they bail out, and it's ATF
running at the door, yelling and screaming,'' Branch told KGBS.
	``Dave opened the door and had his hand out and said, ''Now hold on,
there's women and children in here,' and bullets started hitting the
door. I never heard them say they had a search warrant. Never.``
	Meanwhile, detention hearings will continue this week for nine of
Koresh's followers who left during the weekend. So far, none of them has
been released on bond by federal magistrates. They are being held as
material witnesses.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Sheik appeals deportation
Date: Wed, 24 Mar 93 12:33:25 PST

	NEWARK, N.J. (UPI) -- A radical Muslim cleric, whose followers
included three suspects in the World Trade Center bombing, Wednesday
appealed his deportation.
	Barbara Nelson, a New York lawyer representing Sheik Omar Abdel-
Rahman, filed a notice of appeal with the Board of Immigration Appeals
in the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service in Newark.
	Abdel-Rahman was expected to fight an order handed up by immigration
Judge Daniel Meisner last week.
	In that decision, Meisner said the sheik should be deported because
he concealed information from immigration officials. That information
would have prevented his entry to this country in April 1992.
	Immigration officials said the shiek, blind since birth, obtained a
green card in April 1991 under false pretenses by concealing that he was
a polygamist and convicted of crimes in Egypt -- both grounds for
exclusion.
	He has presided at mosques in Brooklyn and Jersey City, N.J., whose
worshipers included three suspects under arrest in the World Trade
Center bombing investigation. A fourth suspect and the alleged
ringleader, 33-year-old Mahmud Abu-Halima, reportedly was the sheik's
chauffeur.
	Immigration officials pulled the sheik's green card in March 1992
after discovering he failed to tell INS officials he was a polygamist
and that he was convicted in Egypt in 1987 of falsifying a check and 
``moral turpetude.''
	The Egyptian government claims the sheik, charged but acquitted in
the assassination of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, is the spiritual
leader of an extremist group responsible for a series of attacks on
tourists and police.
	The sheik, who appeared for an impromptu prayer session in Jersey
City's Lincoln Park Tuesday, has condemned the Trade Center bombing,
which killed six people and injured more than 1,000 others, as against
the teachings of Islam.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Former cult member says Waco standoff will end in a 'bloodbath'
Date: Wed, 24 Mar 93 21:29:04 PST

	CHICAGO (UPI) -- A former David Koresh follower Wednesday told daytime
talk star Oprah Winfrey that the Waco, Texas, standoff at the cult's
compound ``is going to be a bloodbath, and it's going to end up at
Passover time.''
	Former Koresh cult member Bruce Gent and his wife Lisa discussed the
Koresh standoff in a taping for ``The Oprah Winfrey Show,'' which will
air across the nation Thursday.
	``The people that are coming out now are deadwood,'' Bruce Gent told
Winfrey. ``He (Koresh) has reasons to put them out, and it will be the
hard core that stay there with him and fight it out 'til the end.''
	Federal authorities conducting negotiations with Koresh and his aides
have grown increasingly frustrated by the cult leader's refusal to
discuss surrender at the compound.
	The Gents' 24-year-old son Peter allegedly was killed in the shootout
that began the standoff at the compound 24 days ago. The couple's
daughter Nicole is one of Koresh's wives and the mother of his child.
She is still in the compound.
	The Gents were interviewed by satellite from Australia.
	Lisa Gent told Winfrey that she believes her daughter will be 
``standing by (Koresh) until the end.''
	Joining the Gents in the interview was another daughter, former
Koresh follower Michelle Tom and her husband James, who charged that
Koresh brutally beat their eight-month-old child for 40 minutes.
	In Winfrey's Chicago studio for the taping was former Koresh
followers Jeannine Bunds and her daughter Robyn, who both were wives of
the cult leader.
	Robyn said she fears for the safety of the children who remain in the
compound and believes there is a strong chance they might die there.
	``All his children are in there with him, and there is a reason for
it,'' she said. She said when she gave birth to Koresh's son Shaun, the
cult leader told her that their son ``was going to die.''

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Authorities frustrated with Koresh's broken promises
Date: Wed, 24 Mar 93 15:25:41 PST

	WACO, Texas (UPI) -- Federal agents Wednesday showed frustration with
cult leader David Koresh's refusal to work toward a surrender of his
followers and said they are concerned about 17 children who remain
inside his compound.
	FBI Special Agent Bob Ricks said Koresh has repeatedly broken
promises to peacefully end the 25-day standoff that began Feb. 28 when
four federal agents were killed as they tried to serve a search warrant
at the cult compound.
	``It appears that keeping one's word does not necessarily apply to
Mr. Koresh,'' the FBI spokesman said. ``He has selective morality it
appears when he's willing to abide by promises that he makes.''
	For example, Ricks said, Koresh called a 24-hour halt to direct
negotiations late Tuesday, saying it was a ``high holy day'' for his
Branch Davidians. In the past, Koresh has negotiated on sabbaths, he
said.
	Ricks said Koresh pledged late last week not to commit suicide,
stated he knew his message would not get out until he surrendered, and
that he was ``working toward resolution of this issue and it would be
resolved in matter of days and not weeks.''
	Ricks also expressed ``great concern'' about the 17 children who
remain inside Mount Carmel where sanitary conditions are worsening.
Koresh refuses to discuss the children, who are either his biological or
adopted children.
	``We believe he does not care about those children or he is using
them as a shield, which is cowardly,'' the FBI spokesman said. ``We
believe if he truly cared about those children they would be released.''
	Ricks also said Koresh allowed some of the 35 adults and children to
leave because he had lost control of them.
	``Some of the younger people who were released...indications were
that they were drinking heavily and had gotten drunk on one occasion
following the shootout. He (Koresh) took great offense at this,'' he
said.
	Koresh has strict rules against the use of alcohol by followers, but
Ricks said there is alcohol in the compound and it is ``traditionally''
reserved for Koresh's personal use.
	Meanwhile, federal officials have added Christmas carols to the
arsenal of psychological weapons being used at night to force Koresh and
his followers to surrender to authorities.
	Reporters stationed nearly two miles away from the camp Tuesday night
could hear FBI loudspeakers blaring a selection of Christmas carols
ranging from Jingle Bells to Andy Williams', ``The Most Wonderful Time
of the Year.
	In recent days, the FBI has used the speakers to play tape recordings
of their negotiations with Koresh and meditation chants of Tibetan monks
in an effort to pressure the Branch Davidians to surrender and come out.
	Access to the Koresh followers who have left the compound has been
restricted by the FBI, but three of them have called out from the
McLennan County Jail to KGBS radio talk show host Ron Engleman in
Dallas.
	Brad Branch, 34, disputed ATF statements that an agent first went to
the front door of the compound Feb. 28, announced they had a search
warrant and that the cultists fired the first shots in the bloody
gunfight.
	``All of a sudden two trucks come barreling down our drive. I'm
standing there at the front door, and they bail out, and it's ATF
running at the door, yelling and screaming,'' Branch told KGBS.
	``Dave opened the door and had his hand out and said, 'Now hold on,
there's women and children in here,' and bullets started hitting the
door. I never heard them say they had a search warrant. Never.''
	In a Wednesday interview with KGBS, Australian Oliver Gyarfas said
people inside the Branch Davidian compound are not being held against
their will as authorities say.
	``The FBI, ATF and Texas Rangers are stating that people are being
held against their will and that they have to have permission from David
(Koresh) to leave and that, of course, is not true,'' he said. ``We have
the right to come and go as we please.''
	In another interview, former Koresh follower Bruce Gent told
television talk show host Oprah Winfrey the standoff ``is going to be a
bloodbath and it's going to end up at Passover time.'' Gent also said
the people leaving the compound are ``deadwood'' that Koresh wants out
of his camp.
	``He (Koresh) has reasons to put them out, and it will be the
hardcore that stay there with him and fight it out til the end,'' said
Gent, whose son, Peter, 24, was apparently killed in the Feb. 28
shootout.
	Gent's daughter, Nicole, is one of Koresh's wives and the mother of
one of his children. She remains inside Mount Carmel.
	Meanwhile, two older Koresh followers were released to halfway houses
during detention hearings Wednesday. Annette Richards, 64, and Gladys
Ottman, 67, can still be called in court proceedings as material
witnesses. Seven other sect members who left during the weekend remain
jailed as material witnesses.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: ``Religious fanatic'' enters cult compound unannounced
Date: Thu, 25 Mar 93 12:11:50 PST

	WACO, Texas (UPI) -- A man described by his mother as a ``religious
fanatic'' walked through a ring of armored vehicles and federal agents
and entered cult leader David Koresh's fortified compound, federal
agents said Thursday.
	FBI Special Agent Bob Ricks said the man, identified as Louis Anthony
Alaniz, 24, of Houston, surprised members of the Branch Davidian sect
who are on the 26th day of an armed standoff with hundreds of federal
agents.
	``Their response was one of shock that there was this person knocking
on their door,'' he said. ``They thought it was an undercover FBI agent
trying to enter the compound.''
	Agents saw Alaniz approach the compound but did not try to stop him
because he was unarmed and they did not want to force agents to leave
armored vehicles and expose themselves to gunfire from Mount Carmel, he
said.
	Koresh admitted Alaniz and Ricks said after some Bible instruction
from the 33-year-old self-avowed Messiah the man may be freed. The FBI
contacted the man's mother and she described her son as a ``religious
fanatic.''
	Ricks said Alaniz has never been involved with Koresh before.
	``He is there in search of whatever truths Mr. Koresh may be able to
impart to him. He thought it was the center of action that involved
perhaps Biblical prophecies and wanted to be a participant in that,''
Ricks said.
	Ricks said they reopened direct talks with Koresh late Wednesday but
he refused to describe them as ``negotiations'' because the cult leader
was not discussing critical issues necessary to settle the standoff.
	There are 95 people still inside the compound, 17 of them children,
according to Koresh's figures. Thirty-five people have left the compound
since the Feb. 28 raid that began the siege.
	During the briefing Thursday, the head of the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms intelligence division responded to charges by
Koresh followers that the ATF fired first in the Feb. 28 raid that cost
the lives of four agents.
	David Troy said the accusations were ``self-serving'' to protect sect
members involved in the bloody gunfight and that the ATF agents who
raided the compound had a warrant for Koresh's arrest and a legal search
warrant for illegal weapons and explosives.
	``The people who are making those statements are, of course, in our
opinion making self-serving statements because they were members of the
compound who in fact opened fire indiscriminately with fully automatic
weapons at officers of the law who were executing a legal warrant of
arrest and search,'' he said.
	Troy said the agents had an arrest warrant for Koresh for possession
of illegal, fully automatic weapons and a search warrant for the entire
compound to look for illegal weapons and explosives.
	``When we attempted to execute those warrants we found that the
probable cause that we had developed was in fact, exactly true. They
were armed with a large number of fully automatic firearms which they
had fired indiscriminately.''
	Troy said ``there is no question'' that Koresh and his followers
converted commercially-sold semi-automatic firearms into fully automatic
weapons, which is illegal under federal law.
	He said the ATF arrested more than 13,000 violent criminals, many of
them in high-risk raids, and that the Waco exercise was another one of
those raids aimed at enforcing federal firearms laws.
	``There is no question why they had them (firearms) in there. They
were expecting some day that the law enforcement authorities in this
country were going to call them to account for their illegal acitives,''
he said. ``When that day came, they acted in an offensive way, they
opened fire on the agents attempting to serve warrants.''
	Four ATF agents were killed and 15 wounded when they attempted to
execute a search warrant for illegal firearms and explosives Feb. 28. A
undetermined number of the Branch Davidians were killed or wounded.

From: [email protected] (RIC CLARK)
Subject: Five killed as violence escalates in Northern Ireland
Date: Thu, 25 Mar 93 18:25:42 PST

	BELFAST (UPI) -- Protestant paramilitary gunmen killed a Catholic man
in a shop and four Catholic workmen in two separate incidents as an
extremist group made good its threat to escalate attacks against
nationalists.
	The outlawed Ulster Freedom Fighters paramilitary group said it was
responsible for both attacks, which it said was part of an escalating
campaign against Catholic Irish nationalists in British-ruled Northern
Ireland.
	The killings marked a dramatic escalation in attacks by Protestant
paramilitary groups. The UFF had warned earlier this year that it would
unleash a bloody onslaught against what it described as the pan-
nationalist community and anyone who supported the Irish Republican
Army, a militant Catholic group that has planted bombs in Britain and
Northern Ireland and carried out killings.
	Britain's security minister in Northern Island, Michael Mates,
condemned the attacks and said the killings were driving a wedge between
the Protestant and Catholic communities.
	In a statement to the BBC in Belfast, the UFF said it would escalate
the killings until the IRA and nationalist politicians ended their
campaign for a united Ireland.
	The workmen were gunned down outside government-owned houses in the
quiet seaside village of Castlerock, 60 miles north of Belfast, The
Royal Ulster Constabulary said.
	Witnesses said the workmen were shot just after 8 a.m. as they
arrived in a van to begin work renovating houses owned by the Northern
Ireland Housing Executive on the edge of Castlerock, a popular tourist
destination that was previously almost unscathed in 23 years of fighting
in Northern Ireland.
	``It all happened so quickly,'' said a woman who lives nearby. ``I
heard the shooting, very heavy bangs, and I just instinctively ran out
to see what had happened.
	``The red van was parked with the door open and the windows were
smashed. I saw a man lying on the roadway. He wasn't moving...when I
looked into the van I saw two men lying dead in the front and others
were lying on top of one another in the back. It was so silent.''
	Two of the shooting victims died at the scene. A third died shortly
afterward in hospital and the fourth later in the afternoon, a Royal
Ulster Constabulary spokesman said.
	Another woman said she saw a man jumping from the van and attempting
to escape toward a nearby garden, but he was also shot.
	Police said the workmen were followed to the site by a blue van
carrying the gunmen. When the workers' van stopped outside the houses
the gunmen drove alongside, leaped out and opened fire. The van used by
the attackers was later found burned about 3 miles away.
	Twelve hours later, gunmen opened fire on a shop in the predominately
Catholic Stewartstown Road district in Belfast, killing a Catholic man
and seriously wounding a second, police said.
	Thursday morning's shooting came 24 hours after a Catholic member of
Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army, was shot and
killed at a builder's yard in Belfast by the Ulster Freedom Fighters.
	Early Thursday small bombs were thrown into the Belfast homes of two
members of the Sinn Fein executive council, but no one was injured in
those attacks. Another member of Sinn Fein survived a similar attack
Wednesday.
	A total of 24 people have been killed by Protestant and Catholic
paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland this year, 17 of them civilians.
Since the current Northern Ireland conflict started in 1969, 3,051 have
been killed.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Bishop condemns terrorists at toddler's funeral
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 93 5:51:50 PST

	WARRINGTON, England (UPI) -- Mourners buried a 3-year-old boy killed
by an IRA shopping center bombing Friday with vows that the fight over
Northern Ireland will never be won by ``morally bankrupt'' terrorists.
	``The way of the men and women of violence cannot and will not ever
win,'' Bishop Michael Langrish, the Anglican bishop of Birkenhead, said
at the funeral for 3-year-old Jonathon Ball at St. Wilfrid's Church near
his home in the Grappenhall district of Warrington in northwest England.
	About 200 people attended the funeral service. Other local residents
stood outside the church with bowed heads and lined the streets as the
cortege wound through the city.
	``Jonathon Ball in all his weakness, in all his tender vulnerability,
has in his short life done more to touch the hearts and the minds of
millions than the people with the bombs and the armalites in their hands
will ever have done or ever will do,'' Langrish said.
	Jonathon was with a family friend to buy a Mother's Day gift at
Warrington's main shopping center Saturday when two Irish Republican
Army bombs went off in cast iron litter bins. He died instantly. A
second victim, 12-year-old Timothy Parry, died of his injuries Thursday.
Another 50 people were hurt by the explosions.
	Jonathon was with his mother at Warrington's main shopping center
Saturday when two Irish Republican Army bombs went off in cast iron
litter bins. He died instantly. A second victim, 12-year-old Timothy
Parry, died of his injuries Thursday. Another 50 people were hurt by the
explosions.
	Langrish told mourners the IRA had nothing to gain from the bombing
and similar attacks.
	``What happened in Warrington town center last Saturday was a
deliberate and evil act of callous and utterly selfish women and men,''
he said. ``There is no possible moral, political or military
justification whatsoever for the deaths and injuries that have been
caused in this place this week.
	``There is merely the desperate and morally bankrupt act of people
who are unable or unwilling to carry their argument by reason,
persuasion or legitimate democratic means,'' Langrish said. Instead, he
said, the terrorists used ``innocent human lives to terrorize people
into shock.''
	Among the mourners at the funeral was Gordon Wilson, whose daughter
Marie was among 11 people killed in a 1987 IRA bombing at Enniskillen,
Northern Ireland. Since his daughter's death Wilson has campaigned for
peace in the province. The IRA agreed Thursday to his request for a
meeting to demand an end to violence.
	Langrish said the only reaction the IRA would get for its attacks was
anger, followed by thoughts of revenge, vindiction and hate.
	``The anger I feel today and I believe is shared by many is...an
anger born of concern for what is right, just and pure against the evil
manipulation of lives,'' Langrish said. ``They deserve your anger and
mine, but alongside the anger is the second emotion of love, compassion
and care.''
	Langrish said he hoped those fighting over Northern Ireland ``with
the bullet and the bomb'' would heed the words of Jonathon's father Wilf
Ball, when he said after the bombing: ``Enough is enough. It's time to
lay down your arms. How many more children and families must suffer
before this wickedness comes to an end.''

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Affidavit says Koresh was stockpiling arms
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 93 9:37:36 PST

	WACO, Texas (UPI) -- Agents raided cult leader David Koresh's compound
because they had evidence that he had stockpiled more than $100,000 in
assault rifles, weapons parts and explosives, a newspaper reported
Friday.
	The Dallas Morning News quoted unidentified federal officials and a
sealed affidavit that was the legal basis for the arrest and search
warrants federal agents attempted to serve Feb. 28 at the compound. Four
federal agents were killed in the gunfight that began the siege now in
its 27th day.
	Officials of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms have refused
to discuss details of the court document which remains sealed because
they have never served the warrants on Koresh due to the continuing
siege.
	The News said the affidavit includes evidence that one cultist, a
mechanical engineer, was using a computer-aided design program to design
a ``grease gun,'' a crude World War II-era submachine gun. The group
also had a metal lathe and milling machine to make illegal machine guns.
	The affidavit also stated that the cult received at least two
deliveries from men under federal investigation for manufacturing
illegal machine guns and a third man convicted of those charges, the
newspaper said.
	The News said the ATF was drawn into the case in June 1992 when the
McLennan County sheriff received information that the Branch Davidians
were arming themselves. A gun shop owned by Koresh had received
shipments of AR-15 and AK-47 machine gun conversion parts, chemicals and
hand grenade parts.
	The News said agents then tracked dozens of other purchases of M-16
and AK-47 parts and machine gun conversion kits, including 20 100-round
bullet drums for AK-47s, 260 magazines for AR-15s and 8,000 rounds of
9mm and .223-caliber ammunition from sources in Illinois, New Jersey and
Texas.
	An ATF spokesman said Friday the accuracy of The News report could
not be confirmed or denied because the affidavit remains sealed.
	Some sect members have left the compound and called talk shows
contending the ATF had no basis for the raid and that the ATF fired
first. The ATF Thursday assumed a much more aggressive stance in denying
those allegations.
	ATF Intelligence Chief David Troy said the charges were ``self-
serving'' to protect sect members involved in the bloody gunfight, that
the ATF agents who raided the compound had legal warrants, and they were
fired on first.
	``The people who are making those statements are, of course, in our
opinion making self-serving statements because they were members of the
compound who in fact opened fire indiscriminately with fully automatic
weapons at officers of the law who were executing a legal warrant of
arrest and search,'' he said.
	Troy said the agents had an arrest warrant for Koresh for possession
of illegal, fully automatic weapons and a search warrant for the entire
compound to look for illegal weapons and explosives.
	Federal agents said Friday a man described by his mother as a 
``religious fanatic'' who ran through armored vehicles and federal
agents and entered the compound Wednesday night remains inside.
	The FBI identifed the man as Louis Anthony Alaniz, 24, of Houston,
and said he was not a follower of Koresh in the past. They hoped that
Alaniz would be allowed to leave after some indoctrination by Koresh.
	FBI Special Agent Dick Swensen said Friday that Koresh has not taken
part in talks since Wednesday night and he is reported to be ``bed-
ridden and suffering from those headaches again.'' Koresh says he was
wounded in the gunfight.
	Swensen said negotiators are talking to Steve Schneider, Koresh's top
aide, but they are not making any progress in getting more followers to
leave the compound or in working out a peaceful settlement of the siege.
	Even when Koresh talks to negotiators, Swensen said he does not want
to talk about the children or other important issues that could end the
standoff.
	``He's (Koresh) got kids in there who are living under unbelievably
deplorable conditions and he's worried about his stupid motorcycle,''
Swensen said.
	There are 96 people still inside the compound, 17 of them children,
according to Koresh's figures. Thirty-five people have left the compound
since the Feb. 28 raid that began the siege.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Bishop upset about forecast of Virgin's appearance
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 93 11:12:57 PST

	DULUTH, Minn. (UPI) -- The bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Duluth
says Catholics should stay away from a field where two men say the
Virgin Mary will appear Easter Sunday.
	Steve Marino and Earl Nett of Kettle River have been distributing
flyers nationwide, claiming an apparition will take place at 3 p.m. on
April 11.
	``The Blessed Mother will be appearing to believers, non-believers
and skeptics alike,'' Nett said in a recent letter. ``Many, many will be
healed physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
	``These miracles will be greater than any time in the history of Our
Blessed Mother's appearances.''
	Bishop Roger L. Schwietz issued a statement Thursday, saying the
mailings are ``in clear defiance'' of his directives.
	``There is a grandiosity which has marked all of their dealings with
us and continues with the present announcement,'' Schwietz said. ``Their
plans to collect large sums of money, to build a 10,000-seat church and
a seven-story cross with guest quarters, and their current prediction
that the miracles to take place will be greater than at any time in the
history of Our Blessed Mother's appearances speak of a grandiosity which
would appear to have little to do with the one who calls herself in
Scripture, 'The Handmaid of the Lord.'''
	Marino, who formerly lived in Green Bay, Wis., has said he receives
thought messages from Mary and that she instructed him to build a
religious complex on Nett's property, at the end of a gravel road about
100 miles north of Minneapolis.
	The Rev. Bill Fournier, media director for the 86,000-member Duluth
Diocese, said Friday he thinks the men's plans ``have more to do with
their egos than anything else.'' But Fournier said while the bishop is
urging people not to be taken in by the sensationalism of the claims and
to stay away, he is not currently taking any punitive action against
them.
	``The bishop has done what he can do,'' Fournier said. ``He has
forbidden any priest of the diocese to go there. He has forbidden any
liturgical services to be held there. He has never given any permission
for the construction of a church there. That is about all he can do.''
	Fournier said he expects a large crowd to show up anyway. But he says
he thinks most of them will be from outside the diocese. He also
predicts there will be claims of visions in the field Easter Sunday.
	``This appeals to a fanatical fringe of people and certainly is not
the only instance around the world today,'' he said. ``Typically, people
who are so fanatical about their beliefs tend to see something whether
it is real or not.''

From: [email protected] (RIC CLARK)
Subject: Arrests in Northern Ireland shootings
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 93 12:08:16 PST

	BELFAST, Northern Ireland (UPI) -- Police arrested four suspected
Protestant paramilitaries Friday in connection with an upsurge of
violence against Catholic nationalists in Northern Ireland that has seen
six killings in two days.
	The suspects were arrested at various homes in Coleraine, 55 miles
north of Belfast, during dawn raids. A Royal Ulster Constabulary
spokesman said they were being questioned about the killings of four
workmen Thursday in the village of Castlerock and other recent attacks.
	The outlawed paramilitary group calling itself Ulster Freedom
Fighters claimed responsibility for the attack Thursday on workmen,
including one prominent Irish Republican Army member, as they arrived to
renovate government-owned houses in Castlerock, 60 miles north of
Belfast.
	A fifth victim of the Castlerock shooting was still in serious
condition Friday with gunshot wounds to his back and legs.
	The IRA admitted Friday that one of the four men shot dead, James
Kelly, 25, from Maghera, was one of its volunteers, in a statement
released through the headquarters of its political wing, Sinn Fein.
	Police sources said Kelly, who was a senior member of the IRA and
commander of the East Londonderry batallion, was responsible for the
deaths of a number of police officers and members of the British army.
	He was also suspected of masterminding an IRA bomb attack which
devastated the centre of Coleraine, 55 miles north of Belfast, last
December, causing millions of dollars worth of damage.
	Police searching for UFF members who carried out an attack Thursday
night on two young men in the predominantly Catholic Stewartstown Road
district of Belfast seized five tons of fertilizer during a follow-up
search of the area in the west of the city.
	A 17-year-old youth died after the Belfast shooting and another young
man was wounded.
	The recent spate of sectarian violence in England and Northern
Ireland by the Irish Republican Army and Protestant groups was condemned
Friday by Roman Catholic cardinals in England and Ireland.
	English Cardinal Basil Hume and Irish Cardinal Cahal Daly issued a
joint statement condemning the Warrington IRA bombing of a shopping
center and the shootings of Catholics in Northern Ireland, calling the
acts ``utterly inhuman and barbaric.''
	Britain's Northern Ireland Secretary Patrick Mayhew also expressed
his disgust Friday, saying the violence was ``profoundly evil and will
be suppressed with all powers within the law that are available.''
	On Thursday Prime Minister John Major told the House of Commons: ``As
we condemn terrorism we do need to bear in mind that there are many
people in Dublin and elsewhere...who condemn and detest the terrorists
as much as the honorable members of this house.''
	In a statement Thursday, the UFF said it would escalate the killings
until the IRA and nationalist politicians end their campaign for a
united Ireland.
	Twenty-four people have been killed by Protestant and Catholic
paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland this year, 17 of them civilians.
Since the current Northern Ireland conflict started in 1969, 3,051 have
been killed.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Monthly Christian Science magazine to cease publishing
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 93 14:02:58 EST

	BOSTON (UPI) -- The Christian Science Church said Friday it will
discontinue publication of its monthly news magazine, World Monitor,
with the May 1993 issue.
	Other parts of the church's media operations, including the daily
Christian Science Monitor newspaper and an international shortwave radio
network, will remain operative.
	The closing will only affect fewer than 25 employees who work on the
magazine.
	``World Monitor was expected to break even three years after its
launch in October 1988. That goal was not achieved, and it appears
doubtful it would be reached for several more years,'' said Al
Carnesciali, manager of the Christian Science Publishing Society in
Boston.
	Monitor Radio, the daily hour-long news broadcasts distributed by
American Public Radio, will not be affected by the magazine's closing.
	A recent independent survey of several thousand government, business
and academic leaders ranked World Monitor magazine with Scientific
American and The Economist as among the ``most objective'' they read.
	The magazine had a circulation of 186,000. Regular authors included
Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, White House adviser Joseph Nye, and
best-selling author Alvin Toffler.
	The church shut down operations of its troubled Monitor Channel in
June of last year, after rejecting four offers to buy the cable
television service. The church raised about $4 million at an auction of
the Monitor Channel's equipment in December.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Agents say cult compound housed drug lab
Date: Sat, 27 Mar 93 10:48:37 PST

	WACO, Texas (UPI) -- Federal agents said Saturday that prior to their
raid on the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, they had information
cult members were operating a methamphetamine lab on the premises.
	The agents said at their daily briefing Saturday that information
about the drug lab was used to secure the help of the Texas National
Guard before the Feb. 28 raid on the compund in which four agents of the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were killed.
	ATF Chief of Intelligence David Troy said based on the information
his agency had, it was a ``definite possibility'' that the drug lab had
become a source of funds for the cult members.
	On the 28th day of the standoff, the federal agents again stated
their concern that cult leader David Koresh has no regard for human
lives and is only consumed by his own prophecies of apocalypse.
	FBI Special Agent Bob Ricks said it was this attitude of Koresh that
raised authorities' fears about the safety of several children still
holed up in the compound.
	Ricks said Koresh treats woman and children as ``expendable items.''
	``That is why we are extremely worried. It does not appear that
Koresh cares for human lives, except his own. We believe that in the end
he will protect himself,'' Ricks said.
	Troy's report on the methamphetamine lab comes after another report
that the agents had evidence Koresh had been stockpiling more than $100,
000 in assault rifles, weapons parts and explosives for nearly a year.
	These, according to the authorities, became the basis for the arrest
and search warrants for the cult members that the agents tried to
execute on Feb. 28.
	Some sect members who left the compound have called talk shows
contending the ATF had no basis for the raid and that the ATF fired
first. The ATF has dismissed these complaints as ``self-serving'' to
protect sect members involved in the bloody gunfight.
	In his comments, Ricks, showing growing frustration over the
standoff, said at one point that there is no reason to suspect Koresh's
statement that there are still 95 or 96 people still inside the
compound, including 17 children.
	``There could be even more,'' he said.
	Ricks said negotiators held four telephone conversations Thursday
night. Three of them were with Steve Schneider, Koresh's top assistant,
and one with Rachel Jones Koresh, 24, ``the legal wife of Koresh,''
Ricks said.
	Ricks said Koresh would not come to the telephone because he ``is
still following his theory of apocalyptic resolution.''
	``We have continually asked that he engage is discussions regarding
the health of the children,'' he said, adding ``it appears he treats
women and children as expendable items.''
	The special agent said what the negotiators are confronted with is
proving to Koresh that he is not Jesus Christ.
	``This is an impossible task when you think you are God,'' Ricks
said, adding,``we believe it would be a marvelous achievement for him
(Koresh) if he can get a large number of his people killed.''
	Koresh has not taken part in talks since Wednesday night and agents
says he is reported to be bed-ridden apparently because of recurring
headaches. Koresh says he was wounded in the Feb. 28 gunfight.
--
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From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Kidnapped Spanish priest appeals for suspension of military operations
Date: Sun, 28 Mar 93 4:10:41 PST

	ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (UPI) -- A Spanish Roman Catholic priest
kidnapped by suspected Muslim bandits appealed Sunday to authorities to
suspend military operations in southern Philippines in exhange for his
freedom.
	``Police must stop their operation in Basilan in exchange for my
release'', the Rev. Bernardo Blanco said in his letter sent to church
officials negotiating for his release.
	A top church official who asked not to be identified told United
Press International that the letter matched the handwritting of Blanco
but doubted the priest wrote it voluntarily.
	Military authorities refused to comment on the letter and hinted that
a full-scale military operation will be launched if the ongoing
negotiations bogged down.
	``Our main concern is the safety of the hostage but if negotiations
fail, we might launch an all-out military action to rescue the hostage,''
Brig. Gen. Guellermo Ruiz said.
	On Saturday, government security forces clashed with the suspected
kidnappers on the outskirts of Isabela, killing one bandit and wounding
four others. No government casualties were reported.
	Earlier, President Fidel Ramos ordered law enforcement agencies to
conduct operations and negotiations for the safe recovery of Blanco.
	``Safe recovery is paramount,'' Ramos said in his directive to top
government officials.
	Ramos also ordered government officials to coordinate the
negotiations with the kidnappers with the private sector and the Spanish
embassy in Manila.
	Blanco, 65, of Aliste, Spanish province of Zamora, was snatched at
gunpoint March 18, in Lantawan town, in Basilan 550 miles, south of
Manila.
	Blanco was at least the fourth foreign Roman Catholic figure abducted
in the Muslim-dominated southern Philippines in the past five months.
The others, a missionary from Chicago, Illinois, and two Spanish Nuns
were released unharmed and without ransom.
	Blanco, a member of the Claretian Order, has been in the Philippines
for the past 17 years and has been receiving threats in the recent
months, officials said.
	More than 400 people, including at least 26 foreigners, have been
abducted since 1988 in the southern Philippines, the military said.
	The kidnappings were attributed to former separatist rebels who
resorted to banditry after their armed struggle for an independent state
fizzled in the early 1980s.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Negotiations in Texas cult standoff stall, federal agents defend raid
Date: Sun, 28 Mar 93 11:58:10 PST

	WACO, Texas (UPI) -- Federal agents, faced with another round of
stalled negotiations with Branch Davidian members, found themselves
Sunday defending their ill-fated Feb. 28 raid on the compound amidst new
reports blaming them for the ill-fated campaign.
	After announcing that their latest round of negotiations with cult
members had yielded no results, the federal spokesmen had to answer a
barrage of questions relating to reports appearing in The New York Times
and Newsweek magazine.
	David Troy, chief of intelligence of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco
and Firearms, took strong exception to the Newsweek report that 
``friendly fire'' could be blamed for some of the casualties during the
raid. Four ATF agents were killed in a gunbattle with cult members,
several more wounded and an undetermined number of cult members killed.
	Seperately, FBI Special Agent Bob Ricks saidt cult leader David
Koresh again declined to talk to the negotiators the previous night. In
conversations with other members of the cult, Ricks said none expressed
any desire to come out of the compund, thereby extending the standoff to
the 29th day.
	Ricks also said authorities are concerned that Koresh appeared to be
becoming ``delusional.''
	In response to a question relating to a report in The New York Times,
Ricks denied the White House had begun to play a role in the episode.
However, he said the White House was being kept informed of the
developments but that day-to-day decisions were being made by
authorities on the scene.
	Troy, who did much of the speaking, repeated his earlier statements
that the raid was well-planned and that the agents who took part were
given everything they needed including proper weapons.
	``I would like to respond to the report that friendly fire, or to
take the mask of that euphemism, that ATF agents using undisciplined
tactics shot and killed their own colleagues during that raid,'' Troy
said. ``As far as that is concerned, the only thing I can say about that
is that theory is ridiculous and the only thing I can think of more
ridiculous than that is that (Koresh) thinks he is the lamb of God when
all he is is a cheap thug who interprets the Bible through the barrels
of a gun.''
	Troy said the raid was ``effected with precision, professonalism and
uncommon courage under fire.''
	He said, ``Those who compromised that raid have the weight of four
dead agents on their shoulders. I think the authors of that Newsweek
article will owe an apology to the families of those four dead agents
when this investigation is completed. Newsweek calls this raid a bungled
raid, I call their friendly fire theory a bungled conclusion.''
	Troy also said the Times report saying there were numerous problems
in the execution of the raid and that it should have been aborted was
full of errors.
	In his comments about Koresh's condition, Ricks said, ``We are
getting more and more concerned about the isolation being demonstrated
by Mr. Koresh. We have not spoken with him until the late evening of
Wednesday. Our concern is that as the stressors are continually applied
to him, he does seem to retreat more and more.
	``We are concerned that he is perhaps going through a mental
decompensation and that he is in fact becoming more delusional. We have
information that is pretty widely known...that various suicide pacts
have been proposed by those inside the compound, principally by Mr.
Koresh and that probably would have occurred following the raid but that
Mr. Koresh lost his nerve.''

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Paradmedic testimony offers new light in trial
Date: 29 Mar 93 06:15:08 GMT

	SAN ANTONIO (UPI) -- The testimony of a paramedic that an anonymous
caller told her ``not to get in the way again'' is likely to be probed
further by both the defense and prosecution this week in the trial of a
once-prominent Dallas minister accused of trying to kill his wife.
	Last Friday Blair Bardwell, a Dallas paramedic, testified that one
day after she treated the wife of former Rev. Walker Railey, an
anonymous caller warned her away from the minister's house should she
receive any more calls.
	Railey, 45, the former pastor at First United Methodist Church in
Dallas, is on trial on a charge that he nearly strangled his wife,
Margaret ``Peggy'' Railey, to death on April 22, 1987. Mrs. Railey, now
43, remains in a coma at a nursing home in Tyerler in East Texas where
her parents take care of her.
	In her testimony, Bardwell said the anonymous caller told her, ``I
don't know what you all (paramedics) did to her. She was dead when I
left her.'' The call was in reference to the emergency attempt to treat
Mrs. Railey.
	``You got in the way. You went between the reverend and me. If that
address (Railey's home) comes in again, let the police get there first.
Don't get in the way again,'' Bardwell said the caller told her.
	She said the call was received on her unlisted number at her home the
day after the attack.
	Her testimony about the caller came during cross examination by
Railey's defense team.
	Both sides have tried to use the testimony to bolster their cases.
	Defense lawyer Doug Mulder tried to show to jurors the attack was the
climax to a series of threatening letters that Railey received for weeks
from white supremacists because of his liberal views.
	But the prosecution have not ruled out the possibility the caller
might have been Railey himself.
	Prosecutors say Railey wrote the threatening letters to himself as
part of his plot to kill his wife because of an affair he was having
with a church member.
	Railey has pleaded innocent to the attempted murder charge, saying he
found his wife unconscious on the floor of the garage of their home when
he returned from the university where he had gone to do some research.
	The trial was moved to San Antonio because of extensive publicity in
Dallas.
	Railey tried to commit suicide and stopped cooperating with the
investigation when detectives and the FBI tried to question him about
inconsistencies in his whereabouts on the night of the attack.
	Railey was indicted last Augsut ater the Dallas County district
attorney's office reviewed the evidence.
	Railey, who met his wife at the Southern Methodist University in
Dallas, became a respected member of the community. He left the city and
moved to California in late 1987 after he became the target of the
investigation.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Bill on confiscation of disputed holy land passed
Date: Mon, 29 Mar 93 11:33:25 EST

	NEW DELHI, India (UPI) -- The Indian Parliament Monday approved a bill
allowing government acquisition of disputed land in the northern town of
Ayodhya after a bitter dispute between Hindus and Muslims.
	The bill was passed by the upper house of parliament after being
earlier passed by the lower house.
	It is the first step in resolving a longstanding disagreement between
Hindus and Muslims which came to a boil Dec. 6, when Hindu zealots razed
a 16th century mosque in Ayodhya.
	The demolition of the mosque in the northern Indian state of Uttar
Pradesh was followed by waves of sectarian violence that swept the
country killing more than 1,600 people.
	Hindus claimed that the mosque was situated in the birthplace of
their warrior god Rama. Since 1949, the mosque had idols of Hindu
deities inside and was open only to Hindu devotees under court orders.
	The ownership of the 67.7 acres of disputed land is now in the hands
of the government.
	The bill, which has been denounced by both Hindu as well as Muslim
radicals, is unlikely to solve the 450-year-old dispute over the site,
according to analysts.
	The government hopes to be able to build a mosque as well as a temple
on the acquired land.
	The main Indian opposition, the Bharatiya Janata (Indian Peoples)
Party said that Indians would never accept a ``government'' temple and
challenged the government to a public debate on communalism, secularism
and nationalism.
	About 14 percent of India's 850 million Hindu-majority population is
Muslim, making it the world's second largest Islamic population after
Indonesia.

From: [email protected] (JONATHAN FERZIGER)
Subject: Ultra-Orthodox protest airlift of Yemeni Jews
Date: Mon, 29 Mar 93 10:30:17 PST

	JERUSALEM (UPI) -- Ultra-orthodox Jews focused a spotlight Monday on a
secret operation to bring Yemen's Jewish population to Israel, accusing
the government of trying to wean the immigrants from their adherence to
strict religious law.
	The protests brought the low-key rescue operation for the first time
onto the front page of Israeli newspapers, which for several months have
gone along with the government's wishes not to publicize the airlift.
	A similar leak of information in 1984 curtailed the transport of
thousands of Ethiopian Jews to Israel via Europe. The lapse kept the
persecuted community in place until the highly publicized ``Operation
Solomon'' in 1991 that brought 14,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel.
	Despite the revelation Monday of the Yemini airlift, Israel refused
to confirm or deny that it was going on.
	``You can say we have nothing to say on this matter,'' a spokesman
for the immigrant absorption ministry said.
	Officially, Yemen allows Jews to travel abroad as long as they do not
go to Israel, which it considers an enemy state. In practice few were
allowed to leave until last year. As long as the airlift was conducted
discreetly, it was apparently allowed by Yemeni authorities, but Israeli
officials say privately that they fear the flow of Jews will now be
stopped.
	Nearly all of Yemen's Jewish population, about 50,000 people, were
airlifted between 1947 to 1951 to the infant state of Israel, fleeing
riots and religious persecution. No more than 1,500 Jews are estimated
to remain in northern Yemen, where many work as silversmiths and their
craftsmanship is highly prized.
	The Jews are a tolerated minority in Yemen and are easily
recognizable by their long sidelocks. They remain devoted to traditional
religious observance and are connected through letters and messengers to
their relatives in Israel.
	The ultra-Orthodox Neturei Karta movement, which opposes the state of
Israel because of its secular nature, sends rabbis to Yemen to support
Jewish culture there and discourage efforts to emigrate.
	Through U.S. intervention, Jews in Syria were allowed to to leave
last year after being barred for decades, but not to go to Israel. Many
were brought to Brooklyn, New York, where they are being sheltered by
members of the large Syrian Jewish community there.
	Wall posters in ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods Monday condemned the
government's decision to put the Jews from Yemen in secular absorption
centers, which, they charged, prevented them from practicing religious
traditions, such as keeping kosher and observing the sabbath. Israeli
advocates for Yemeni Jews denied that is so.
	The posters called on Israel to leave the Yemini Jews alone.
	``Jews, let us rouse the heavens and earth'' the printed signs
exhorted. ``We must work to stop immediately their being brought to this
unholy land.''
	Yated Ne'eman, a daily ultra-Orthodox newspaper, published details of
the operation to bring the Jews out from London and Cairo under the
front-page headline, ``Religious Persecution.''
	Quoting foreign sources, including the Saudi newspaper A-Sharkh al-
Ost, the newspaper described how some 100 Yemeni Jews were allowed to
leave the capital of Sanaa to fly to England and Egypt. The operation
was assisted by a British Jew based at a hotel in Sanaa and a Jewish
member of the British Parliament, who waited for them at Gatwick
International Airport.
	Both the Ha'aretz and Yediot Ahronot newspapers, both influential Tel
Aviv dailies, also for the first time published details of the
operation, quoting Yated Ne'eman and A-Sharkh al-Ost.
	A reporter and photographer from Yated Ne'eman were physically
removed onday from the ``Oshiyot'' absorbtion center in the central
Israel town of Rehovot. They said they were trying to prove that the
center was influencing the Yeminis to abandon religious observance.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Koresh is talking to negotiators again
Date: Mon, 29 Mar 93 10:44:06 PST

	WACO, Texas (UPI) -- Cult leader David Koresh talked again with
negotiators after four days of silence but federal agents said Monday he
did not follow up with any action aimed at ending the 30-day siege near
Waco.
	Koresh, who complained of pain from a gunshot wound, talked for two
hours with negotiators Sunday about the ``mechanics'' of ending the
standoff, which he has done in the past, but nothing happened, said FBI
spokesman Dick Swensen.
	``We are not just willing to be an audience anymore,'' he said. 
``It's mainly us wanting to firm up any plans to come out. He did deal
with it, but talk is cheap and nothing has happened. He's still waiting
for a word from God.''
	Koresh sounds normal on the phone during conversation, but when he
moves he grimaces with pain, said Swensen. Koresh says he was shot in
the left side during the Feb. 28 raid on his Mount Carmel compound.
	Koresh denied FBI charges that he is hiding behind the children who
remain inside the fortified compound, but the FBI agent said they 
``wonder'' because agents driving nearby Sunday saw children placed on
display in windows.
	Koresh send out a videotape showing 16 children and two adults, and
Swensen said the children appeared to be ``cleaned'' and in good
condition, but he said the FBI has information that conditions inside
are worsening.
	The FBI delivered milk and cheese to the compound Sunday night for
the children, Swensen said.
	The siege began Feb. 28 when the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms attempted to execute a search warrant for illegal firearms.
Four ATF agents and an undetermined number of Koresh's followers were
killed.
	Thirty-five people have left the compound but more than 90 remain
inside the heavily armed compound. Two people infiltrated security
surrounding the Mount Carmel complex last week and joined Koresh inside.
	Meanwhile, a fugitive member of the Branch Davidian sect, Paul G.
Fatta, called The Dallas Morning News and said in an interview published
Monday that he fears the standoff will end in another bloody gun battle.
	``The ATF is trying to create opinion in the public so they can go in
there and massacre the people,'' he said.
	Fatta, 35, denied federal charges that he illegally manufactured
machine guns allegedly being used by Koresh and his followers. He said
the sect has no illegal weapons and he denied any knowlege of explosives
at the compound.
	``They're saying I'm armed and dangerous. If I wanted to go and start
killing people...I would have done it then,'' he said.
	Fatta was visiting an Austin gun show at the time of the Feb. 28 raid
and has been a federal fugitive since he was indicted March 6.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Lawyer has face-to-face meeting with Koresh
Date: Tue, 30 Mar 93 6:23:50 PST

	WACO, Texas (UPI) -- A Houston lawyer who met for two hours, face-to-
face with David Koresh at the front door of the cult leader's fortified
compound said he plans another meeting Tuesday and hopes the 31-day
siege can be settled soon.
	Dick DeGuerin confirmed that he talked directly with Koresh late
Monday afternoon but refused to give details of their talk. He described
the meeting as ``a good start'' and said he was ``hopeful'' Koresh will
surrender soon.
	DeGuerin, who was hired by Koresh's mother, was the first outside
person federal authorities have allowed to visit the compound since the
siege began Feb. 28 in a bloody gunfight that killed four federal
agents.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Vatican envoy calls for preserving Mideast peace talks
Date: Tue, 30 Mar 93 11:13:43 PST

	BEIRUT (UPI) -- A visiting Vatican envoy Tuesday urged the Arab
parties to the Mideast peace talks to maintain the peace process and not
be discouraged by emerging obstacles.
	Monsignor Jean-Louis Tauran, Vatican secretary for international
affairs, said the peace talks should be pushed forward until they reach
``positive and tangible solutions.''
	Tauran, after a two-hour meeting with Lebanese Foreign Minister Fares
Boueiz, said there was no other solution but to continue peace
negotiations with Israel.
	The Vatican envoy, who arrived in Beirut Saturday, has met with
President Elias Hrawi and Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
	Boueiz said Tauran explained it was Pope Jaul Paul II's position that
any ``Vatican-Israeli dialogue should take into consideration the rights
of the Palestinian people and their eviction from their land.''
	The Vatican also supported a proposal that the holy city of Jerusalem
be given a ``special status,'' Boueiz said.
	The Vatican has not recognized the state of Israel since it was
established in 1948. Last year, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres
met the pope in a move aimed at establishing diplomatic ties between the
two states.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Lawyers end meeting with cult leader in Texas standoff
Date: Tue, 30 Mar 93 17:55:03 PST

	WACO, Texas (UPI) -- A Houston lawyer met privately with David Koresh
inside the Branch Davidian compound Tuesday for the third time in two
days, attempting to get the cult leader to end the 31-day siege with
federal agents.
	Dick DeGuerin, the first outsider authorities have allowed to talk
with Koresh since the siege began, met for two hours with Koresh inside
the stronghold Tuesday morning. The first face-to-face meeting took
place Monday.
	DeGuerin left the Mount Carmel compound after about two hours,
apparently conferred with federal agents, and then returned to resume
his conversations with the 33-year-old cult leader. Deguerin finally
left the compound just after 6 p.m.
	FBI Special Agent Bob Ricks said the private discussions, which are
not being taped or monitored by federal agents, would continue as long
as DeGuerin indicated to authorities that he was making progress toward
surrender.
	``I'm hopeful that this is real progress and that we can bring this
to an end real quick,'' DeGuerin told reporters before Tuesday's
meeting.
	He said Koresh and his followers are concerned that the ``truth get
out'' and he is trying to convince them the court system is the answer.
	The siege began Feb. 28 when the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms attempted to execute a search warrant for illegal firearms.
Four ATF agents and an undetermined number of Koresh's followers were
killed.
	Thirty-five people have left the site but more than 90 remain inside
the heavily armed compound. Two people infiltrated security surrounding
the Mount Carmel complex last week and joined Koresh inside.
	Three of those who left, Brad Branch, Kevin Whitecliff, and Kathy
Schroeder were indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury on charges of
conspiring to murder federal officers and possession of a firearm during
commission of a violent crime.
	The three were ordered held without bond in the McLennan County jail.
	Ricks said DeGuerin, who was hired by Koresh's mother to represent
her son nearly three weeks ago, began a direct dialogue with Koresh
Sunday in a series of phone calls authorized by the FBI.
	DeGuerin was given permission, the FBI agent said, because Koresh for
the first time appeared ``eager to seek counsel.'' He said since Sunday
Koresh has indicated more of a willingness to discuss ``substantive''
issues.
	Ricks said DeGuerin was aware of the danger of entering the heavily
armed Branch Davidian stronghold. ``We don't think the chances of them
taking him hostage are great, but there is always a chance,'' he said.
	As long as DeGuerin is reporting progress toward a peaceful
surrender, the FBI spokesman said the private talks will continue. He
said agents hope the lawyer will bring out a settlement offer from
Koresh.
	``We believe he will come back to us and tell us what they believe
are terms of surrender,'' Ricks said.
	Koresh has indicated williness since Sunday to end the siege,
resuming direct talks with the FBI negotiators and sending out a
videotape of the children who are still inside the stronghold.
	Koresh denied FBI charges that he is hiding behind the children but
the FBI agent said they ``wonder'' because agents driving nearby Sunday
saw children placed on display in windows.
	Koresh sent out a videotape showing 16 children and two adults, and
agents said the children appeared to be ``cleaned'' and in good
condition, but that the FBI has information that conditions inside are
worsening.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Former mistress testifies against Walker Railey
Date: Wed, 31 Mar 93 11:54:45 PST

	 SAN ANTONIO (UPI) -- A one-time fashion model told a San Antonio jury
Wednesday she was having an affair with a former Dallas minister about
the time he allegedly tried to choke his wife to death.
	Lucy Papillon, a former Dallas psychologist and daughter of a
Methodist bishop, testified in the high-profile trial of Walker Railey,
the once-prominent Methodist pastor charged with attempted murder.
	Papillon, 52, acknowledged during cross-examination that she had an
affair with Railey who is accused of plotting to kill his wife so he and
Papillion could move to California and begin a new life.
	Railey's wife, Margaret ``Peggy'' Railey, survived the attack at
their home April 22, 1987. She was found lying on the floor of their
garage in convulsions. Now 43, she remains comatose in a nursing home.
	Railey's attorney tried to keep Papillon from testifying, saying it
would prejudice the jury. He also sought to supress details of Railey'
attempted suicide after the attact. Both motions were rejected by the
judge.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Lawyer ends third day of meetings with Koresh
Date: Wed, 31 Mar 93 18:43:24 PST

	WACO, Texas (UPI) -- A Houston lawyer met with cult leader David
Koresh inside his fortified compound Wednesday for the third day in a
row, hoping to peacefully end the 32-day standoff with federal agents.
	Lawyer Dick DeGuerin entered the Branch Davidian stronghold about 10
a.m. and met about two hours, face-to-face with the cult leader who has
been holed up with his followers since a Feb. 28 gunfight in which four
federal agents died. He returned later Wednesday for another meeting.
	After leaving the compound following more than 3 hours of afternoon
conversation with Koresh, DeGuerin said the talks have been practiclly
non-stop, with no breaks.
	Asked if he was experiencing some of the delaying tactics that FBI
negotiators had complained about, DeGuerin admitted to a reporter from
KRLD in Dallas he had, but added, ``I'm on his side.''
	He said he expected to be present when Koresh walks out of the
compound, but had no word on when that might be.
	DeGuerin said he planned to return to the compound Thursday morning.
	FBI Special Agent Bob Ricks said as long as DeGuerin reported ``some
progress'' in peacefully resolving the standoff authorities will permit
the private meetings to continue. They are not taping or monitoring the
sessions.
	Ricks said DeGuerin, who was hired by Koresh's mother to represent
her son, is acting as a lawyer, giving advice to his client, and telling
Koresh the best way to tell his side of story is through the courts.
	More than 90 people remain inside the compound surrounded by federal
agents. Thirty-give people have left since the siege began.
	The government has suspended direct negotiations and harassing
overnight music and bright lights as DeGuerin continues his private
talks with Koresh. Ricks said they do not consider the lawyer ``a de
facto negotiator.''
	``We have an attorney representing his client, trying to get his
client to come forth and do what is best for preserving future trials,''
he said.
	``He (DeGuerin) is saying what is best for you (Koresh) in putting
forth your defense is to come out at this time.''
	Ricks said DeGuerin, a former law partner of the legendary Percy
Foreman, is experienced enough to know that if he becomes the witness to
an ongoing crime he cannot represent Koresh and is conducting himself
only as a lawyer.
	Authorities do not plan to allow other attorneys inside the compound
for similar direct talks with their clients., he said.
	``We don't want a situation where we have 100 attorneys in there. We
could be doing this until next fall,'' Ricks said.
	DeGuerin was allowed to begin direct talks with Koresh because the
33-year-old sect leader said he wanted to talk to a lawyer to obtain
legal advice from someone other than government negotiators.
	``I'm hopeful that this is real progress and that we can bring this
to an end real quick,'' DeGuerin said Tuesday.
	He said Koresh and his followers are concerned that the ``truth get
out'' and he is trying to convince them the court system is the answer.
	The siege began Feb. 28 when the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms attempted to execute a search warrant for illegal firearms.
Four ATF agents and an undetermined number of Koresh's followers were
killed.
	Three of Koresh's followers who left the compound were indicted
Tuesday on federal charges of conspiring to murder federal officers and
possession of a firearm during commission of a crime. Brad Branch, Kevin
Whitecliff, and Kathryn Schroeder are being held without bond in the
McLennan County Jail.

From: [email protected] (DOUGLAS A. LEVY, UPI Science Writer)
Subject: Harmful bacteria found on communion cups
Date: Wed, 31 Mar 93 22:14:16 PST

	WASHINGTON (UPI) -- Potentially harmful bacteria have been found on
communion cups shared by worshippers during church services, raising the
possibility that sharing communion cups can transmit infections.
	Many churches already offer individual communion cups or dip bread
into wine to prevent the transmission of any germs. The new findings
reported Wednesday should prompt others to change, too, researchers
said.
	``It's not using common sense to continue using a common cup,'' said
Dr. Terrence Furlow, a Lexington, Ky., physician who conducted the study
with infectious disease specialist Mark Dougherty.
	``We found a lot of normal bacteria that are found in the mouth and
which don't cause disease, but we found several (bacteria) that are
notorious for causing human disease,'' Furlow said.
	The doctors analyzed cups used during eight services at a Lexington,
Ky., Episcopal church to compare bacteria found on the cups before and
after each use.
	Christians observe the communion service to commemorate the Last
Supper. While wine is used to represent Jesus's blood, only some faiths
perform services in which all participants sip the wine.
	After the ceremony, 12 of the 16 cups tested harbored bacteria that
can cause pneumonia and skin, kidney or other infections. Three of the
cups grew bacteria that cause staph infection and three grew bacteria
that cause meningitis. One cup grew both, and another grew both of those
bacteria in addition to a bacterium that causes respiratory infections.
	One cup had bacteria on it before use during communion. There was no
significant difference in bacteria found on silver cups compared to
pottery cups, Furlow and Dougherty reported in a letter to the Annals of
Internal Medicine.
	Furlow was prompted to conduct the research after discussing hygiene
with the Rev. Peter Casperian, rector of St. Michael's Episcopal Church,
where the research was done and where Furlow worships.
	``I've been knocking heads with (Casperian) for years over this,''
said Furlow, noting that Episcopal churches have resisted suggestions to
change the communion practice of sharing the same cup. ``My priest dared
me to do the study, and I went ahead and did it.''
	Despite the results, Casperian remains unconvinced.
	``We went through the influenza epidemics and polio epidemics''
without any concern about sharing cups, Casperian said. ``There is no
evidence that Episcopalians have suffered any worse during influenza or
polio or AIDS.''
	He said sharing the communion cup is an important part of the church
liturgy because it ``creates oneness'' among the congregation.
	``We acknowlege the possibility of transmitting bacteria but with
adequate preparation, that can be kept to a minimum,'' said Bill Ryan,
spokesman for the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. He said
Catholic church officials periodically check with Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention experts on infection control procedures.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Church bells will ring in effort to save cathedral
Date: Thu, 1 Apr 93 5:37:45 PST

	BEAUVAIS, France (UPI) -- Cathedral bells will toll across France at
noon Saturday in a national effort to draw attention to the seven-
century-old Beauvais cathedral, which is in danger of collapsing.
	The cathedral, which collapsed twice during construction in the 13th
century, is once again in serious danger of crumbling if major
restoration efforts remain ignored, according to city officials.
	The cathedral boasts the world's highest vault at 160 feet, which
would allow it to shelter the Statue of Liberty. But with the vault
moving four inches per year, the 130,000 annual visistors are regularly
showered with small pieces of the falling roof.
	``It is absolutely necessary to stabilize the cathedral for about 100
years,'' said Bonnet-Laborderie, the priest who heads a group that
studies historic monuments in Beauvais. ``This will certainly be
expensive, but for a fast-speed train or a highway the cost would not be
taken into consideration.''
	Located in the small town of Beauvais just northwest of Paris, the
cathedral was considered an architectural feat when work first began in
the 13th century. Although it was built over two centuries its nave,
towers and spire were never completed. Over the centuries the structure
has been damaged by war and invasions.
	As a result, the cathedral leans because it lacks support where the
nave should have been built and it sways under strong winds because it
has no towers to break their force.
	Specialists are looking into ways of preventing the heavy winds from
moving the roof.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Nurse says Railey seemed unconcerned about his wife
Date: Thu, 1 Apr 93 12:31:16 PST

	SAN ANTONIO (UPI) -- A nurse who cared for Walker Railey's wife after
she was attacked at their home testified Thursday the former Dallas
minister seemed detached when he was in the hospital room with his wife.
	Prosecutors called a series of nurses and police officers in an
attempt to show that Railey, the 45-year-old former pastor of the First
United Methodist Church, was unconcerned after the near strangulation of
his wife, Peggy.
	Railey allegedly choked his wife April 22, 1987 at their Dallas home,
hoping to kill her so he could move to California and live with his
lover, Lucy Papillion, a Dallas psychologist and former fashion model.
	Peggy Railey, now 43, survived the attack but remains in a persistent
vegetative state, unable to testify in the case.
	During Thursday's testimony, nurse Ann Boltik told the jury that when
Railey was in the hospital room with his wife, he did not approach the
bed or attempt to touch his wife who was near death.
	``I did not observe him touching her hands or touching...talking
specifically to her,'' she recalled.
	Defense attorneys objected to the testimony because they said none of
the nurses or police officers who have testified about Railey's feelings
could actually know what was in the mind of the man.
	In the most sensational testimony so far, Papillion confessed
Wednesday during questioning by protectuors that she was having an
affair with Railey at the time of the attack on the minister's wife.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Lawyers end 8 hours of talks with Koresh and aide
Date: Thu, 1 Apr 93 18:09:15 PST

	WACO, Texas (UPI) -- A second lawyer joined third-party talks with
cult leader David Koresh and his top lieutenant inside the fortified
Branch Davidian compound Thursday, the 33rd day of the siege with
federal agents.
	Lawyer Dick DeGuerin was joined by another attorney during a private
visit to the Mount Carmel stronghold where Koresh and his followers have
been holed up since a Feb. 28 gunfight in which four federal agents were
killed.
	DeGuerin, who has met face-to-face five times with Koresh since
Monday, told the FBI he wanted another lawyer to represent Koresh's top
aide, Steve Schneider, to prevent any conflicts of interest in legal
representation.
	FBI Special Agent Bob Ricks said Jack Zimmermann of Houston was
authorized to enter the compound Thursday with DeGuerin. The FBI hopes
the lawyers can answer legal concerns of Koresh and Schneider and
peacefully end the siege.
	Zimmerman and DeGuerin emerged from the compound Thursday evening
after eight hours of talks with Koresh and his top aide, Steve
Schneider.
	According to KRLD Radio in Dallas, the lawyers said the people inside
the compound are ready to come out and it is only a matter of timing.
DeGuerin and Zimmerman also said they were impressed with the religious
conviction of Koresh's followers.
	Federal officials don not plan to allow more lawyers to have access
to the more than 90 Koresh followers still inside.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Muslim militant threat forces suspension of Bible telecast
Date: Fri, 2 Apr 93 0:43:11 PST

	NEW DELHI, India (UPI) -- A Muslim fundamentalist threat has forced
India's state-run television network to suspend the telecast of its
feature serial on the Bible, television officials said Friday.
	Muslim extremists in the northern territory of Kashmir have
threatened to blow up the TV station there and individually assassinate
its employees if the Bible telecast was resumed, said officials at the
New Delhi headquarters of Doordarshan Television.
	The telecast of has been steeped in controversy, and several
individuals filed separate suits in state high courts to halt its
telecast, which began late last year.
	Some petitioners argued that the serial did not accurately portray
the life of Christ, while others contended that it hurt the religious
sentiments of non-Christians.
	``We had overcome all the legal hurdles and were set to resume its
telecast in March when the threat from the Kashmiri militants forced
Doordarshan to give up the plan,'' director M.C. Punoose said.
	Punoose said a Doordarshan proposal to exclude the troubled state of
Kashmir from the Bible's nationwide telecast has been shot down by the
Indian Interior Ministry on grounds the action would amount to the
government succumbing to militant pressure.
	The matter now had been referred to Indian Prime Minister P.V.
Narasimha Rao, Punoose said.
	Kashmiri separatists, waging a bloody hit-and-run guerrilla campaign,
have driven more than a quarter million non-Christians from the Muslim-
dominated Kashmir Valley in a three-year ethnic-cleansing campaign,
according to the federal government.
	The guerrillas also have imposed Islamic fundamentalist norms and
customs on the traditionally liberal Kashmiri society, forcing women to
wear the veil and shutting down movie houses, video and beauty parlors
and liquor stores.
	Last October, the insurgents burned Kashmir's main telecommunications
facility, isolating the state from the rest of the world. Communication
links remain severely disrupted.
	Kashmir is a disputed territory, with its control divided among
India, China and Pakistan.
	India rules the largest section - the Kashmir Valley - which has been
wracked by a Muslim separatist rebellion for the past three years.
Thousands of people have perished in the insurrection.
	India has repeatedly accused Muslim Pakistan of training and arming
the Kashmiri guerrillas. Islamabad denies the charge, but the rebels
themselves acknowledge being trained on Pakistani-controlled territory.
	Barely 2 percent of India's 880 million people are Christians. The
Muslims, who constitute 12 percent of the Hindu-majority population,
form the world's second largest Islamic population after Indonesia.

From: [email protected] (BOGDAN TUREK)
Subject: Vatican to remove Carmelite nuns from Auschwitz
Date: Fri, 2 Apr 93 4:34:17 PST

	WARSAW, Poland (UPI) -- The Vatican has decided to remove nine
Carmelite nuns from the World War II death camp at Auschwitz, evidently
at the urging of the Polish government, which is facing a Jewish boycott
of ceremonies marking the 50th anniversary of the Warsaw ghetto
uprising, the Polish news agency said.
	The Polish news agency PAP said its Vatican correspondent had learned
from a ``reliable source'' about the decision Thursday. The presence of
nuns in a convent at the former Nazi death camp has sparked protests by
world Jewry and soured Polish-Jewish relations for years.
	``The Vatican congregation for problems of cloisters took a decision
enabling the nuns to move to a new convent,'' PAP said.
	Kaln Sultanik, deputy president of the World Jewish Congress, said
Tuesday in New York he would not send his representative to Warsaw for
ceremonies marking the ghetto uprising unless the nuns are moved.
	U.S. Vice President Al Gore is among the dignitaries scheduled to
attend the event, which marks the ill-fated six-week uprising by
Warsaw's Jews against the Nazis. The uprising began on April 19, 1943.
	In 1987, Polish Cardinal Franciszek Macharski signed an agreement in
Geneva with Jewish representatives pledging to move the nuns to a new
place within two years.
	As the deadline passed without apparent progress, Jewish groups
traveled to Auschwitz and staged protest rallies in front of the
convent, which abuts the wall surrounding Auschwitz and served during
the war as a storehouse for the lethal gas Zyklon-B, which was used to
kill many of the victims.
	An estimated 1.5 million people died at Auschwitz, at least 80
percent of them Jews. The remainder were Poles, Russians, Ukrainians and
other nationalities from Europe.
	Abraham Weiss, a rabbi from New York, jumped over the convent fence
with a group of his followers in 1989 and occupied the convent before
Polish workers roughed them up and carried them out of the area.
	The head of the Polish Roman Catholic Church, Cardinal Jozef Glemp,
drew more Jewish protests when he condemned the incident as an attack
that posed a threat to the lives of the nuns.
	The nuns laid a cornerstone for a new convent about 500 yards from
the old one in 1990. The structure is nearing completion. It is not yet
known what will happen to the old convent.
	The statement carried by PAP does not the specify the date for the
removal of the nuns, nor whether it takes place before the Warsaw ghetto
observance.
	``It is hard to establish the date of the removal...,'' PAP said. 
``But the operation should take place soon.''

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: ATF went ahead with raid knowing Koresh was tipped, newspaper says
Date: Fri, 2 Apr 93 9:28:25 PST

	WACO, Texas (UPI) -- Federal agents knew cult leader David Koresh had
been tipped off minutes before their ill-fated Feb. 28 raid on his
compound but they went ahead anyway, a Houston newspaper reported
Friday.
	The Houston Chronicle quoted an anonymous source who said an
undercover agent for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
reported that Koresh received a phone call just before the raid and was
``acting nervous.''
	Four ATF agents were killed in the raid as they attempted to serve a
search warrant for illegal firearms, setting off a 34-day siege. An
undetermined number of Koresh followers were also killed in the
gunfight.
	The ATF in the past had confirmed that their undercover agent came
out just 40 minutes before the raid but he did not realize the phone
call might be a tipoff. The ATF explained Koresh was ``nervous'' for
weeks preceding the raid.
	``You have to put that in context, Koresh was skittish and nervous
literally for weeks prior to the raid,'' said David Troy, ATF
intelligence chief.
	Troy refused in an interview Friday on ABC's Good Morning America
show to comment on reports that a supervisor was urging the agents to
hurry up with the raid because they knew Koresh had been tipped off.
	The Chronicle said Charles Sarabyn, assistant special agent in charge
of the ATF Houston office, told agents in the staging area that Koresh
had received a tip but the cult leader had made no preparations.
	``Let's go with it,'' the source quoted Sarabyn as saying.
	Sarabyn could not be reached for comment.
	At a briefing Friday, Troy said it was not appropriate at this time 
``to be specific about what was said because all the facts are not in
yet.'' He said they will be addressed after internal and outside
investigations.
	Troy also said that ATF agents who have information about the way the
raid was conducted should bring those facts to investigators. ``We don't
feel the media is the proper forum to do that,'' he said.
	ATF officials have said since the first days following the bloody
raid that Koresh was tipped off and the casualties were because they
lost ``the element of surprise.''
	The Texas Rangers and ATF are investigating the source of the tip.
	Troy said the ATF would never have gone ahead with the raid if they
had known ``the element of surprise'' was lost and Koresh was prepared
to ambush them when they arrvied at the heavily armed compound 10 miles
east of Waco.
	Meanwhile, two Houston lawyers have ended their private meetings with
Koresh and his top aide inside the compound. They say they have answered
the cult leaders' legal questions and now they will wait for them to
surrender.
	Attorney Jack Zimmermann said, ``I think they'll be making that move
soon. I can't tell you how soon. But I'm very encouraged.''
	DeGuerein met with Koresh for four straight days in private sessions,
and Zimmermann was permitted by the FBI to join the sessions Thursday to
represent Steve Schneider, Koresh's top aide.
	The FBI allowed the lawyers into the compound because Koresh asked to
talk directly to legal counsel and they felt answering his legal
questions might bring a peaceful resolution of the siege.
	An FBI spokesman speculated Thursday that Koresh's timetable may be
linked in some way to the coming of Passover next week. The 33-year-old
self-avowed Messiah has made reference to Passover in his many talks
with negotitators.
	Meanwhile, a U.S. magistrate Thursday entered not guilty pleas for
three Koresh followers who walked out of the compound last month.
Kathryn Schroeder, Kevin Whitecliff and Brad Branch face charges of
conspiracy to murder a federal agent and possessing a weapon during a
crime of violence. They were denied bond and jailed.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Prosecutors call more witnesses against Railey
Date: Fri, 2 Apr 93 15:41:50 PST

	SAN ANTONIO (UPI) -- Prosecutors called more witnesses Friday in an
attempt to show jurors that a former Dallas minister was unconcerned
about his wife's condition after she was savagely choked at their home
six years ago.
	A Dallas policeman, Raymond Beaudreault, said after the 1987 attack
he rode in an elevator at the hospital with Walker Railey and Lucy
Papillion, who later confessed to being the former minister's lover.
	Railey's wife, Peggy, was under treatment at the hospital. She
survived the attack but remains comatose in a nursing home.
	During the elevator ride, Beaudreault said Railey at first did not
acknowledge Papillion was there, but then introduced her as ``my
personal psychologist.'' Papillion was a psychologist in Dallas.
	Beaudreault said Railey and Papillion went into a private room and
stayed about 45 minutes. He said later Railey visited the hospital room
where his wife lay unconscious for about five minutes and left.
	An FBI expert was called by the prosecutors to bolster their charge
that Railey typed threatening letters to himself in order to cast
suspicion on others for the attack on Mrs. Railey but his testimony
raised questions.
	The expert said there was a ``high degree of likelihood'' that the
threatening letters Railey received in the days preceding the attack
were typed on a typewriter at his church in Dallas.
	Defense Attorney Doug Mulder later said outside the courtroom that
the testimony about the letters was inconclusive.
	Railey allegedly attacked his wife April 22, 1987 at their Dallas
home, hoping to kill her so he could move to California and live with
Papillion.
	As Railey became the prime suspect in the case, he surrendered his
Methodist credentials, gave up custody of his two children, attempted to
divorce his wife, and then moved to California with Papillion in late
1987.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Agents say Koresh still waiting for word from God to end siege
Date: Sat, 3 Apr 93 10:16:07 PST

	WACO, Texas (UPI) -- Federal agents said Saturday that Branch Davidian
cult leader David Koresh told them God still wants him to wait before
ending the siege at the compound that entered the 35th day.
	But at his daily briefing, FBI Special Agent Bob Ricks entertained
the hope that the standoff that began Feb. 28 with a bloody gun battle
might still end during Passover, a Jewish religious observance that
begins next week, because of Koresh's belief in it.
	Koresh and his lieutenant, Steve Schneider, and several others in the
heavily armed compound spoke to federal authorities late Friday and
Saturday but there was still no indication when, or if, they might
surrender.
	The talks resumed after attorneys for Koresh and others were allowed
to hold lengthy meetings with them last week about ending the siege. The
attorneys left the scene, saying it was now up to Koresh to make the
decision.
	``FBI negotiators yesterday spoke three times with Mr. Schneider and
once with Mr. Koresh,'' Ricks said. ``Schneider indicated that
significant progress was made with their ability to meet with their
attorneys.
	``Schneider also advised that Koresh told him that God is still
telling Mr. Koresh to wait. Koresh stated last night -- that conversation
started about 8:20 p.m. -- that Passover would be in keeping with the
traditional Jewish calendar and that things were going also very well
with his attorney.''
	Ricks said it was difficult to say if Koresh was again trying to
stall despite progress made with his attorney.
	``Again references were made to Passover and this is very important
to them,'' Ricks said. ``It is a time of transition. David has received
many different prophecies during the time of Passover. Whether this is
actually so or not, it is hard for us to speculate. If it is another
delay tactic, only David Koresh can tell us that.''
	But Ricks said the latest talks heightened expectations the siege may
end during the Passover.
	The FBI suspended all talks with Koresh during the four days of
marathon meetings that Koresh had last week with his lawyer, Dick
DeGuerin of Houston.
	DeGuerin and Jack Zimmerman, another Houston lawyer representing
Schneider, said last week they expected the cult members to surrender
but on Koresh's own timetable. The two lawyers said they would return to
Waco when their clients call to say they are ready to come out.
	The federal agents raided the highly armed compound to serve an
arrest warrant on weapons charges. They lost the surprise element
because Koresh was apparently alerted by a telephone caller that an
attack was imminent. Four agents and two cult members were killed in the
gun battle that followed.

From: [email protected] (PHILIP WILLAN)
Subject: Pope begins Holy Week celebrations
Date: Sun, 4 Apr 93 8:34:02 PDT

	VATICAN CITY (UPI) -- Pope John Paul II celebrated Palm Sunday mass in
St.Peter's Square, commemorating Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem
and opening the Catholic Church's Holy Week rites.
	The pope greeted two senior Orthodox prelates from the former
Yugoslav republics of Serbia and Montenegro who attended the mass
representing Patriarch Pavel, head of the Serbian Orthodox Church.
	``I salute them cordially, raising with them the song of Hosannah to
the Son of David, Our Lord Jesus Christ,'' the pope said at the start of
his sermon.
	John Paul began the ceremony by blessing palm and olive branches held
up by the faithful in memory of the branches cast at Christ's feet when
he entered Jerusalem.
	Wearing red and white vestments trimmed with gold and carrying an
olive branch, John Paul led the traditional Palm Sunday procession up to
an altar placed on the broad marble steps in front of St. Peter's
Basilica.
	The pope said Holy Week was the time when the community of the Church
desired ``to be with Christ and to remain beside him in order to draw on
the profundity of his Easter mystery.''
	Speaking after the mass, celebrated in bright spring sunshine, the
pope issued an invitation to young people to attend the World Youth
Meeting to be held in Denver, Colorado August 12-15.
	``I wish to invite the young people of every country to the great
Festival of Youth which will take place in Denver, but especially I hope
to see there many young people from all over the American continent,''
he said, speaking in English.
	``We will go in search of God, in order to find him in the heart of a
modern city, to recognize him in so many young people full of hope, to
feel the breath of the Holy Spirit among so many races and cultures.''
	John Paul invited young people to ``abandon the path of sin and
follow the narrow road of the Gospel.''
	On Good Friday the pope will carry a wooden cross at a torchlit ``Way
of the Cross'' ceremony at the Colosseum, where many early Christians
were martyred for their faith.
	The pope has called on Catholics to put a lighted candle in their
windows and to pray for peace in former Yugoslavia during the Easter
Saturday vigil.
	Holy Week observances culminate next Sunday with Easter mass
celebrating Christian belief in Christ's resurrection after his death on
the cross, and the pope's message to the city of Rome and the world.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Jews prepare for Passover holiday
Date: Sun, 4 Apr 93 10:50:02 PDT

	JERUSALEM (UPI) -- Jews in Israel and around the world prepared Sunday
for the weeklong Passover holiday, purging their houses and shops of any
traces of bread and getting ready for the traditional seder feast that
commemorates the biblical exodus from Egypt.
	In Jerusalem's downtown open-air market, throngs of shoppers
descended on food stalls where merchants had replaced the usual cakes,
biscuits and rolls with more modest unleavened products. Bearded rabbis
encouraged passersby to sell their bread symbolically to non-Jews before
the onset of the holiday.
	``Last day for pita--Passover is coming,'' shouted one vendor hawking
Middle Eastern pita bread to those not observing the dietary
restrictions of the holiday.
	In contrast to the religious festivities and merry-making, Israeli
authorities were enforcing a weeklong closure of the occupied West Bank
and Gaza Strip. The restriction, implemented in response to a rash of
Palestinian violence against Israelis, prohibits more than 130,000
Palestinians from commuting to work in Israel. The closure was expected
to last throughout Passover.
	The combination of Passover overlapping with the Easter holiday is
expected to bring about 80,000 tourists to Israel within the month of
April, a twelve percent increase from 1992, the Ministry of Tourism
said. About half of them are Christian pilgrims, including 22,000
Catholics and Protestants and 13,000 Greek Orthodox observers coming to
worship.
	For many Israelis the weeklong holiday provides an opportunity to go
away on vacation, with the southern beach resort of Eilat and Egypt's
Sinai desert two of the top destinations.
	In Israel, the seder meal is held only the first night of the seven-
day holiday, while outside the country Jews celebrate for two nights of
the eight-day celebration. The difference stems from confusion in
ancient times over exactly when the holiday began. To be sure, disaspora
Jews celebrate two complete seders.
	The festival begins at sundown Monday with the seder, during which
time family members and guests gather to read the story and prayers that
recount the Jews' enslavement in Egypt and the miracles that the Bible
tells led to their arrival 40 years later in the Holy Land.
	For seven days, Jews are forbidden to eat bread or other leavened
products, and instead consume matzah, a flat crisp unleavened bread
recalling the Jews' rapid flight from Egypt thousands of years ago when
they didn't have enough time to allow their bread to rise.
	Jews traditionally do a thorough spring cleaning prior to the onset
of Passover, ridding their houses of bread products.
	In keeping with the Passover theme of Jewish unity, the quasi-
governmental Jewish Agency arranged for 12,000 recent Russian and
Ethiopian immigrants to celebrate the holiday with Israeli families or
in communal seders. The organization also made preparations for 5,000
Jews in the former Soviet Union to participate in festivities in their
home communities.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Cultists ask for lawyers, look for sign from God
Date: Sun, 4 Apr 93 16:37:41 PDT

	WACO, Texas (UPI) -- Two Houston attorneys returned Sunday to the
Branch Davidian compound for meetings with cult leader David Koresh,
heightening the hopes of FBI negotiators that the 36-day siege might be
nearing an end.
	Dick DeGuerin, the lawyer representing Koresh, and Jack Zimmerman,
who represents Koresh's lieutenant, Steve Schneider, were inside the
fortified compound several times last week, and on one occasion spent
nine hours there in a marathon session.
	``We do expect that there will be a face-to-face meeting with their
attorneys some time today,'' FBI Special Agent Bob Ricks said. He said
DeGuerin indicated Sunday's meeting would only last ``a couple of hours.
''
	Ricks said that if after ``everything we have done we see no progress
in getting this issue resolved, we have to go back to our basic
negotiation tactics.
	``The options are there as to what we would do tactically, which we
will not discuss. There are still options available on what we might do
negotiation-wise, or just a full containment situation,'' he said.
	Koresh has told negotiators he will not end the standoff until he
receives a sign from God. FBI negotiators are hoping that ``sign'' may
come during the Jewish holiday of Passover, which begins Monday at
sundown.
	``We have been led to believe that this is a significant period, this
Passover period, but again we will have to assess that following the end
of Passover,'' Ricks said.
	DeGuerin has said the scores of cult members still in the compound
are deeply committed to their religion, and that Passover is an
important season to them. Ricks said many of Koresh's followers who have
left the compound reported their leader had said this was the last
Passover they would celebrate together.
	``This is their highest holy day,'' Ricks said. ``The Branch
Davidians do not celebrate the traditional Christian holidays, as they
are characterized as 'pagan holidays.' They only celebrate the holidays
that were celebrated in the Old Testament.''
	Ricks said the FBI must rely on assurances from DeGuerin and
Zimmerman that they are making progress.
	``They don't want this to be a life-term project, either. They've
always said they are interested in getting this thing culminated over a
period of days, not weeks,'' he said. ``If they're not making progress,
they don't want to be involved. If they believe their clients are no
longer following their advice, they don't want to be there.''
	Ricks expressed hope that reported new information the DeGuerin and
Zimmerman were taking into the compound would help end the standoff that
began Feb. 28 with a bloody gun battle in which four federal agents were
killed.
	The ATF reported a male cult member voluntarily left the compound
Sunday evening, becoming the 35th person to leave the camp since the
siege started. The man was in the custody of the Texas Department of
Public Safety, but no other details were immediately available.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Egyptain president: World Trade Blast might have been prevented
Date: Mon, 5 Apr 93 5:59:12 PDT

	 NEW YORK (UPI) -- Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak believes the
bombing of the World Trade Center could have been prevented if U.S.
authorities had paid attention to his country's warnings about a
fundamentalist Muslim network in the United States, a published report
said Monday.
	Mubarak, in Washington, for a meeting with President Clinton on
Tuesday, told The New York Times Sunday the information was not anything
specific forecasting the Feb. 26 bombing, but rather concerned the
activities of individuals and specific mosques.
	``It could have been prevented if you listened to our advice,'' he
said. He declined to give details.
	Mubarak also gave additional information on the background of Mahmud
Abohalima, a suspect in the World Trade Center bombing who was captured
in Egypt and sent back to the United States.
	He said during his interrogation by Egyptian authorities, Abohalima
told them he had quarreled with Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, a fiery
Egyptian fundmentalist cleric whom he served and as a driver and aide.
	Abohalima accused Abdel-Rahman of putting funds for Afghan refugees
into an interest-bearing bank account, in violation of the Muslim ban on
interest, and taking the interest for his personal use, Mubarak told the
Times.
	The blind cleric, who has been in the United States since 1990, was
acquitted in 1981 for lack of evidence of inciting the murder of
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.
	The U.S. Immigration Department has ordered him deported, not
necessarily to Egypt, on grounds he failed to disclose he is a
polygamist. He is appealing the ruling.
	Mubarak said he would not request the extradition of Abdel-Rahman,
who has called for his overthrow in sermons in U.S. mosques -- including
the one where suspects in the World Trade Center bombing worshipped.
	``Oh, keep him in your country!'' he said. ``We don't need Abdel-
Rahman. You accepted him in your country, keep him!''
	In another interview with Time magazine, Mubarak said there is ``no
doubt'' radical Muslims working to bring down his government with a wave
of violence are getting their orders from Iran.
	He said he believes fundamentalists from several Arab countries are
being trained in Sudan under Iran's direction to ignite a civil war in
Egypt.
	``There is no doubt,'' Mubarak told the magazine. ``The Iranians have
said that if they could change the Egyptian regime, they would control
the whole area.''
	A wave of violence by Muslim extremists in Egypt has killed 116
people in the past year and 29 in March alone.
	Mubarak said the radicals are being trained in Sudan, which has a
hard-line Islamic government along the lines of Iran's. ``The Sudanese
deny it, but there are training camps there,'' Mubarak said.
	Egypt's Islamic Group, which hopes to topple Mubarak's government and
install an Islamic regime, is led by Abdel-Rahman.
	Mubarak said Abdel-Rahman ``thinks he is another Ayatollah Khomeini,''
referring to the late Iranian spiritual leader. But he said Omar's
influence does not have the same scope.
	``There is a great difference between them. The followers of this so-
called sheik are less than 1 percent (of Eyptians),'' Mubarak said.
	Mubarak said he was concerned about the violence but did not believe
that his government was truly in danger.
	``The situation is not that unstable,'' he said.
	Meanwhile, IRNA, Iran's state news agency, said Sunday that Mubarak's
visits to the United States, Germany and Britain were part of a mission
``pleading for financial aid aimed at saving his regime from total
collapse.''
	The news agency said opposition newspapers in Egypt were pointing out
what it called Mubarak's ``two faces...democracy abroad, terror at home.
''
	``Under the guise of emergency rule, note the dailies, Mubarak's
regime is trampling upon the rights of the people. His security forces
have launched a terror campaign against the people, daily shooting and
killing tens of people including women and children, on claims to curb
Islamic terrorism,'' the agency said.
	The Egyptian president had meetings with Palestinian Liberation
Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat and Syrian President Hafez Assad
before his trip to the United States.
	Arafat gave Mubarak his authorization to attempt to resolve the issue
of the 400 Palestinians deported by Israel who are now stranded in tent
camps in Lebanon, Time said. The question of the fate of the deportees
has been stalling the resumption of the Middle East peace talks.
	From Assad, Mubarak carried a commitment to the ``full peace'' Israel
is seeking in exchange for returning the occupied Golan Heights to
Syria, Time said.
	``I don't want to see this chance for stability in this part of the
world to pass,'' Mubarak said.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Can religion, graduation mix?
Date: Mon, 5 Apr 93 12:36:57 PDT

	VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (UPI) -- A legal center founded by religious
broadcaster Pat Robertson is working to protect school systems
nationwide from court challenges of prayers at graduation ceremonies.
	In fact, the American Center for Law and Justice wants to revive the
religious ceremony for graduates, the baccalaureate service, to
commencement programs.
	Robertson's American Center for Law and Justice, based in Virginia
Beach, said it is involved in 130 disputes in 25 states. Many cases
surfaced after the center sent legal bulletins to 15,000 public school
superintendents and 300,000 private citizens.
	The center vowed to send free ``SWAT teams'' of constitutional
attorneys to argue and sue on behalf of graduating seniors or concerned
public officials.
	The American Civil Liberties Union, in a rejoinder to Robertson's
offensive, said Monday it is sending its own memorandum to educators in
Virginia and Indiana. The ACLU contends there are no exceptions or
loopholes to the high court's prohibition of graduation prayers.
	A Supreme Court ruling on graduation prayer last year does not
necessarily prohibit baccalaureate services, according to the Robertson
allies, but the ACLU and like groups stridently dispute that claim.
	The groups believe the bulletins and the center's full-page
advertisements in Christian magazines will lead to religious services
for graduates around the country.
	Chesapeake City Councilman Peter Duda Jr. has threatened to turn a
Robertson legal ``SWAT team'' on his own school district if it refuses
to resurrect a baccalaureate service.
	``They can talk about condoms and sex and abortion and all that,''
Duda complained. ``But they can't talk about religion...That's just
stupid.''
	Duda, a two-decade employee of Robertson's Christian Broadcasting
Network, told The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star of Norfolk that
he's preparing to meet with senior student government presidents from
each of Chesapeake's five high schools to seek a way to continue the
school services.
	For as long as school officials can recall, the services have been
conducted on a Sunday before graduation at each of the high schools.
Students would march in, wearing their graduation caps and gowns as
relatives and friends looked on.
	Chesapeake school officials would not say whether they'd permit
private organizations to sponsor baccalaureate services on school
property. And it remains to be seen how the courts would view such an
arrangement.
	In February, Robertson's attorneys told the Supreme Court that an
evangelical church in New York had a constitutional right to show a
videotape on family values in a public schools. The justices seemed to
be split on the issue of whether the church also had a right to conduct
religious services in the school.
	A high court ruling could be forthcoming by mid-summer.
	Meanwhile, any school district relying on the center's advice ``will
get its pants sued,'' Marc Stern, a lawyer with the New York-
headquartered American Jewish Congress, told the newspaper.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Passover raises hope of surrender, but time frame uncertain
Date: Mon, 5 Apr 93 12:57:22 PDT

	WACO, Texas (UPI) -- Cult leader David Koresh hinted to his lawyer
that this week's religious observance of Passover may be a final key to
his surrender but authorities are uncertain of his timetable, an FBI
spokesman said Monday.
	Passover, which begins Monday and lasts eight days according to the
Jewish calendar, is the latest hope of federal authorities trying to end
the 37-day standoff that began in a Feb. 28 gunfight that killed four
federal agents.
	When two lawyers came out of the fortified Branch Davidian compound
Sunday after conferring with Koresh and his top aide, they told
reporters Koresh and his more than 90 followers may come out at the end
of Passover.
	The problem is that Koresh, who bases his beliefs on the Old
Testament, interprets his own holidays and they do not coincide with
traditional observances of other religions, FBI Special Agent Dick
Swensen said.
	``Hopefully it will end right at the end of Passover, hopefully it
will end even before Passover is over, but whether I believe in my heart
it's gonna end based on David's time frame, I wouldn't want to comment
on that,'' he said.
	Swensen noted that Koresh, whom he called ``a con artist,'' has
broken promises in the past. He promised to surrender March 2 after his
58-minute sermon was broadcast, and he apparently told lawyers he would
surrender last Thursday.
	Federal agents will ``probably'' wait to see what happens during the
next few days, Swensen said, although he did not rule out continued
negotiations or other tactics during the Branch Davidians' ``highest
holy season.''
	Swensen said authorites have ``a strong desire to get this thing
resolved without anyone else getting hurt. If it takes another seven or
eight days that's a possibility to wait then. There are so many things
that could happen between now and then that could change that.''
	The Branch Davidians reportedly have observed Passover for varying
lengths of time in the past, from three to eight days. The lawyers said
Sunday after a six-hour meeting inside the compound that Passover is the
only impediment to surrender.
	``I think it's pretty clear that were we not on the eve of Passover
that they would be out by now,'' said Jack Zimmermann, who represents
Koresh's top lieutenant, Steve Schneider.
	Zimmerman and Dick DeGuerin, Koresh's lawyer, said they will await
phone calls from their clients. The Houston lawyers said they expect to
be at the side of their clients if they surrender to federal agents.
	``We are more convinced than ever that this is going to end
peacefully, and we are more convinced than ever about the depth of their
devotion to their religion,'' DeGuerin said.
	The return of Zimmerman and DeGuerin to the compound Sunday was a bit
of a surprise. They said Thursday when they left they would not be back
until Koresh called to surrender, but they returned to deliver
information on religious holidays to Koresh, they said.
	Meanwhile, Swensen said Monday that 40-year-old Jesse Amen, who
walked out of the compound Sunday, was charged by the Texas Rangers with
interfering with a police officer. He slipped through security and into
the compound March 26.
	Amen was the 36th person to leave the compound since the siege began
more than four weeks ago. There are still believed to be 96 people in
the compound, 17 of them children, according to Koresh's figures.
	Four agents of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were
killed and 16 wounded Feb. 28 when they attempted to serve a search
warrant at Koresh's compound. An undetermined number of cult members
were killed or wounded in the gun battle.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Texas minister's trial shifts to DNA tests
Date: Mon, 5 Apr 93 17:41:36 PDT

	SAN ANTONIO, Texas (UPI) -- Prosecutors used DNA test results Monday
in an attempt to convince a San Antonio jury that former Dallas minister
Walker Railey licked the envelope and stamp when he sent himself a
threatening letter.
	The letter was one of six Railey received at the church and at his
home prior to the choking attack that nearly killed his wife, Peggy, at
their home on April 22, 1987. She remains in a persistent vegetative
state in an east Texas nursing home.
	With the jury out of the courtroom, attorneys argued the merits of
testimony by FBI experts on DNA testing. At the hearing's conclusion,
Judge Pat McDowell ruled the testimony was admissible and the jury could
hear it.
	The expert testified that the seal of one envelope contained a
protein found in Railey's body, meaning Railey could not be excluded as
having licked it on March 21, 1987 before mailing it.
	Prosecutors admitted, however, that 2-to-3 percent of the general
population also possesses that particular protein.
	``No scientific tests are really, absolutely, 100 percent conclusive,
'' Assistant Dallas County District Attorney Cecil Emerson said, 
``However, it excludes ... 98 percent of the Caucasian population.''
	Defense attorneys disagreed, however, saying the tests are so vague
that they did not see much significance in them.
	Last week, an associate minister at First United Methodist Church
testified that the all letters looked as though they were written on a
typewriter that Railey told him he had used.
	The trial, which was moved to San Antonio because of wide publicity,
was recessed until Wednesday because Judge McDowell had grand jury
business in Dallas.
	James Reaves, now 81, also said that when he replaced a worn-out
ribbon on the old IBM electric, the threatening letters began appearing
in darker type.
	An FBI expert testified Friday that there was a ``high degree of
likelihood'' that the letters were written on the church typewriter.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Pope accepts resignation of bishop involved in sex scandal
Date: Tue, 6 Apr 93 10:04:35 PDT

	VATICAN CITY (UPI) -- Pope John Paul II has accepted the resignation
of Robert Sanchez as archbishop of Santa Fe, N.M., because of his
involvement in a sex scandal, the Vatican announced Tuesday.
	The pope named Michael Sheehan, bishop of Lubbock, Texas, to serve as
apostolic administrator of Santa Fe pending the appointment of a
permanent replacement. Sheehan, 53, has been bishop of Lubbock since
1983 and will maintain his duties there in addition to overseeing the
Santa Fe archdiocese.
	The Vatican announcement said Sanchez, 59, resigned in accordance
with Article 401/2 of the Code of Canon Law. This states that a 
``bishop, who for illness or other grave cause should result less
suitable for the carrying out of his office, is strongly invited to
renounce his post.''
	Sanchez, the first Catholic of Hispanic descent to be named a bishop
in the United States, was accused in early March by five women who said
they had sexual relations with him in the 1970s and early 1980s.
	Sanchez made no attempt to deny the accusations and issued a written
statement saying, ``I ask publicly for pardon, as I have already asked
God.''
	However, he said he could not remember the incidents as reported by
the women because of a severe case of amnesia resulting from a car
accident.
	``It is my personal desire to thoroughly evaluate my life and
ministry before God, so that I may have a clearer vision of my life and
ministry for the future,'' Sanchez wrote in his resignation letter.
	Sanchez's rise in the church had been meteoric before the scandal.
Born in Socorro, N.M., he was serving as pastor of an Albuquerque church
when Pope Paul VI tapped him to become archbishop of Santa Fe. The
surprise appointment made Sanchez the nation's first Latino archbishop
and put him in charge of an archdiocese covering 75,000 square miles, 90
parishes and 300,000 registered Catholics.
	After the scandal broke, Sanchez left his diocese and went into a
spiritual retreat at an undisclosed location, Vatican sources said.
	The resignation comes three years after another U.S. bishop stepped
down over allegations he had broken his vow of celibacy. In 1990,
Archbishop Eugene Marino of Atlanta, Ga., resigned after reports of an
affair with a female church deacon. Marino was the first black bishop in
the history of the Catholic Church in the United States.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Lubbock bishop to replace Sanchez in Santa Fe
Date: Tue, 6 Apr 93 12:35:21 PDT

	VATICAN CITY (UPI) -- Pope John Paul II has accepted the resignation
of Robert Sanchez as archbishop of Santa Fe, N.M., because of his
involvement in a sex scandal, the Vatican announced Tuesday.
	The pope named Michael Sheehan, bishop of Lubbock, Texas, to serve as
apostolic administrator of Santa Fe pending the appointment of a
permanent replacement. Sheehan, 53, has been bishop of Lubbock since
1983 and will maintain his duties there in addition to overseeing the
Santa Fe archdiocese.
	The Vatican announcement said Sanchez, 59, resigned in accordance
with Article 401/2 of the Code of Canon Law. This states that a 
``bishop, who for illness or other grave cause should result less
suitable for the carrying out of his office, is strongly invited to
renounce his post.''
	Sanchez, the first Catholic of Hispanic descent to be named a bishop
in the United States, was accused in early March by five women who said
they had sexual relations with him in the 1970s and early 1980s.
	Sanchez made no attempt to deny the accusations and issued a written
statement saying, ``I ask publicly for pardon, as I have already asked
God.''
	However, he said he could not remember the incidents as reported by
the women because of a severe case of amnesia resulting from a car
accident.
	``It is my personal desire to thoroughly evaluate my life and
ministry before God, so that I may have a clearer vision of my life and
ministry for the future,'' Sanchez wrote in his resignation letter.
	Sanchez's rise in the church had been meteoric before the scandal.
Born in Socorro, N.M., he was serving as pastor of an Albuquerque church
when Pope Paul VI tapped him to become archbishop of Santa Fe. The
surprise appointment made Sanchez the nation's first Latino archbishop
and put him in charge of an archdiocese covering 75,000 square miles, 90
parishes and 300,000 registered Catholics.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: School ordered to give student hearing
Date: Wed, 7 Apr 93 7:10:35 PDT

	NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (UPI) -- A black student kicked out of a Baptist
high school because of an alleged sexual affair with a white student
will get an appeals hearing.
	Willie Corey's parents have filed a $3 million lawsuit against the
school, which cited ``immoral conduct'' in expelling the 17-year-old.
The young woman was also expelled, but is allowed to take classes at
home, as her father teaches at the school. Corey was not.
	Circuit Court Judge Robert Frank gave Denbigh Baptist Christian
School until April 15 to hold a hearing for Corey. He'll be allowed to
present evidence and question people who claim he had a sexual
relationship with the 14-year-old.
	Corey's lawyer, Stephen Smith, said no one from the school has
questioned his client. He said Corey ``is a victim of rumor and
innuendo.''
	Frank ruled this week the school was within its rights in expelling
Corey. But he delayed a ruling on whether the school treated Corey
fairly and if he deserved reinstatement, pending the hearing.
	The school said Corey violated a student handbook edict prohibiting
immoral behavior.
	Corey's lawyer contends race was a factor, but Frank said there was
no evidence the principal had acted with malice or bad faith.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Ban on all displays at Fountain Square considered
Date: Wed, 7 Apr 93 8:05:32 PDT

	CINCINNATI (UPI) -- City council is considering banning all private
displays on Fountain Square so the city won't again be ``made to look
like the biggest redneck city in America.''
	A 10-day Ku Klux Klan cross display on the downtown square last
Christmas holiday season drew national attention as it was toppled and
replaced several times.
	``I looks like either an all-or-nothing ballgame...and I don't think
we can go through another Christmas with the cross up,'' Mayor Dwight
Tillery said Tuesday.
	``It has made us look like the biggest redneck city in America in the
national media, which is not true,'' Tillery said. ``We've just gotten
beat all over the head.''
	Tillery's remarks came after Fay Dupuis, city solicitor, announced
three guidelines for council to consider if it wants to limit use of the
square.
	Dupuis said any policy should be content-neutral; access to the
square should be broader for speakers than for structures; and
exceptions for government use would create more legal complications.
	The city is appealing a federal judge's ruling against a city policy
that banned private displays from staying on the square overnight. That
ruling opened the door to a menorah and the KKK cross to be displayed on
the square last December.
	Dupuis said if the city's appeal is successful, it will be able to
enforce the overnight ban on displays.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: FBI denies report of friction among agencies
Date: Wed, 7 Apr 93 11:39:52 PDT

	WACO, Texas (UPI) -- FBI agents are cooperating with the Texas Rangers
in preserving crime scene evidence at the Branch Davidian compound where
four federal agents died in a gunfight 39 days ago, an agent said
Wednesday.
	A report in the Houston Chronicle Wednesday said friction had
developed between the Rangers and the FBI as the siege with cult leader
David Koresh and his more than 90 followers continued at the fortified
stronghold.
	The Rangers, which are charged with investigating the slayings, are
upset that the FBI negotitators tipped the cultists to the significance
of evidence still inside the compound and made little effort to preserve
the crime scene.
	One anonymous source told the Chronicle once the standoff ends, the
federal agents will leave town ``and hang (the Rangers) butts out to
dry.''
	Special Agent Bob Ricks said a review of the negotiation tapes found
there was discussion of evidence when Koresh and his followers said they
wanted to preserve evidence for their case against the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
	``We told them the sooner you let us get in there and observe that
crime scene, the better the ability we will have to preserve any
evidence in there,'' he said.
	Ricks said negotiators also remarked that one of the first chores for
investigators when the standoff ended would be collection of shell
casings outside the compound. He also pointed out that the Branch
Davidians are smart enough to know what would be evidence without any
help.
	Ricks also said he talked Wednesday with the Rangers captain in
charge of the investigation and he was assured they were receiving the
information they needed, although he conceded there may have been a
problem earlier.
	``There were some questions about the distribution of information,''
he said. ``We've taken steps to make sure this is not occurring.''
	A Rangers spokesman declined to comment on the Chronicle story.
	Ricks said the FBI would probably not be upset if reports are true
that Houston lawyer Dick DeGuerin talked about a book or movie deal with
Koresh when he made an unexpected visit to the cult leader Sunday.
	``If I had to guess what the good news was Sunday that he had to
report back was that he probably got a book contract or television
contract,'' he said.
	Ricks said the FBI understood when they allowed DeGuerin to consult
privately with Koresh that he would discuss a retainer. He said in 
``some ways'' a book or movie deal would be positive. He said it could
be a way for Koresh to get his message out, one of his goals, and also
provide a retainer for DeGuerin.
	Meanwhile, authorities continue to wait for the end of Passover, when
Koresh indicated to his lawyers he might surrender. Agents now think
Koresh's observance began Tuesday and will end on April 13, but there
may be a hitch.
	Steve Schneider, Koresh's top aide, told agents that Koresh has still
not received his message from God. ``Now we not only have to wait for
Passover to come, but we also have to wait for Mr. Koresh to get his
message from God,'' Ricks said.
	Authorities confirmed for the first time that a former Honolulu
police officer identified as Jaydeen Wendel, may be one of the Branch
Davidians inside the compound, but they do not know if she is alive or
dead.
	The ATF also announced that two more people associated with the cult
have been indicted for attempting to kill federal officers. They were
identified as Norman Washington Allison, also known as DeLoy Nash, 28,
of Jamaica, and Woodrow Kendricks, 62, of rural Waco. They were jailed
to await arraignments.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Newspaper says undercover agent warned against raid
Date: Thu, 8 Apr 93 9:33:23 PDT

	WACO, Texas (UPI) -- An undercover agent urged his superiors to cancel
the Feb. 28 raid on the Branch Davidian compound only minutes before
four agents were killed and 16 wounded in the assault, a newspaper
reported Thursday.
	The Houston Chronicle report contradicted previous statements by the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms that when the agent left the
compound before the raid he only reported cult leader David Koresh had
received a phone call and ATF supervisors on the scene had no reason to
suspect an ambush.
	In the Chronicle report, an unidentified source said, ``He (the
agent) told the folks, 'They know you're coming, and you better hold up,
' and apparently they did not heed his warning.'''
	ATF officials in Waco and Washington were warned, the Chronicle
reported, but ATF officials in Washington only asked the agent if he had
seen any guns after the phone call, and the agent said he had not. He
was stunned minutes later to learn the raid had not been canceled, it
said.
	The Chronicle said the undercover agent, who has never been
identified by the ATF, gave an extensive, sworn tape-recorded account to
the Texas Rangers, who are investigating the slaying of the ATF agents.
The Rangers have declined to make any public comment on their
investigation.
	ATF officials have said casualties were high in the raid because they
lost the ``element of surprise'' when Koresh was tipped off. They say
they would never have attempted the raid had they known Koresh was ready
to ambush them.
	At a Waco briefing Thursday, ATF Intelligence Chief David Troy would
not confirm or deny the Chronicle report.
	``Without characterizing any remarks made by anyone or being specific
about what they did say, what we're saying is that the information the
raid team supervisors had at the time they launched the raid indicated
to us that our tactical plan was viable,'' he said.
	Troy said ATF knows what was said by agents and supervisors as they
prepared for the raid and that information will be released after the
standoff ends and the investigations by the ATF and Rangers are
completed.
	The siege entered its 40th day Thursday with Koresh and his followers
observing Passover, which according to their calendar will end Tuesday.
They have hinted to their lawyers they may surrender when Passover ends.
	The FBI reported Thursday, however, that conversations with Steve
Schneider, Koresh's top aide, indicate now that Passover may not be a
key to the Branch Davidians surrender.
	FBI Special Agent Bob Ricks said Schneider remarked Thursday that he
never has understood ``what the big deal is about Passover.''
	Ricks also reported someone tried to exit the compound through a
window Wednesday night but was turned back by FBI flares. He said when
Koresh was warned against such actions he became ``very belligerent,''
prompting negotiators to hang up on him because of ``his abusive
language.''

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Peggy Railey's lawyer seeking details of ex-preacher's assets
Date: Thu, 8 Apr 93 10:28:30 PDT

	SAN ANTONIO (UPI) -- An attorney for the wife of Walker Railey
Thursday served legal documents seeking detailed information on the
assets of the former Dallas minister accused of nearly killing the woman
in 1987.
	Bill Arnold III of Dallas said the papers were presented to Railey
before trial proceedings got underway in San Antonio, where the once
prominent Methodist minister is being tried for attempted murder.
	Margaret ``Peggy'' Railey remains in a persistent vegetative state in
an east Texas nursing home as a result of the April 22, 1987 attack at
the family's home in Dallas.
	Arnold also said Railey was handed a subpoena to appear June 3 for a
deposition to discuss his assets. The attorney said he will be ``asking
questions under oath about all his assets, including movie and book
deals.''
	In 1987, Arnold filed a lawsuit against Railey seeking damages for
the attack, and the following year won an $18 million award. But Railey
has not paid a cent.
	Arnold said he wants to ask Railey, ``How can you afford five high-
priced lawyers and not a penny for the injury you caused your wife?''
	Railey is represented by noted criminal lawyers Doug Mulder of
Dallas, Ray Barrera Sr., Ray Barrera Jr. of San Antonio and two
associates.
	The prosecution, meanwhile was expected to rest its case Thursday
without calling Railey's 11-year-old son, Ryan, to the witness stand.
Prosecutor Cecil Emerson said he had concerns about the boy's emotional
well-being and decided against putting him on the stand.
	On Wednesday, an FBI agent testified that forensic testing showed
Railey could have licked the flap of an envelope prosecutors say he used
to send himself a threatening letter.
	The testimony was part of the prosecution's attempt to show that
Railey sent himself threatening letters in a plot to kill his wife and
move to California to start a new life with his mistress, Lucy Papillon.
--
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From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Former PTL leader hopes for early release
Date: Fri, 9 Apr 93 6:07:49 PDT

	ROCHESTER, Minn. (UPI) -- Former PTL televangelist Jim Bakker has
asked to be released early from prison.
	Bakker and his attorney appeared before two parole examiners Thursday
at the Federal Medical Center, where he has been incarcerated since his
October 1989 conviction for defrauding his followers of millions of
dollars.
	After the closed hearing, attorney Harold Bender would not discuss
what recommendation examiners made on Bakker's parole request. He said
the full U.S. Parole Commission in Washington is expected to make a
decision within 60 days.
	``Jim Bakker is hopeful for an early release, hoping to rejoin his
son and his daughter, who need him very much,'' Bender said. ``He has
lost very much -- his property, his ministry, his liberty and, most
importantly, his wife of 31 years. Now he's got a reason to hope again,
to begin anew....''
	Bakker originally was sentenced to 45 years in prison in the PTL's
Heritage USA retreat membership fraud case. His sentence has been
reduced twice.
	Bakker and his wife, Tammy Faye, divorced in 1992.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Cult claims six of its members dead
Date: Fri, 9 Apr 93 11:31:43 PDT

	WACO, Texas (UPI) -- A spokesman for cult leader David Koresh said six
of his followers are dead, either from the Feb. 28 gunfight in which
four federal agents also died, or other reasons, authorities said
Friday.
	The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents were killed
in a furious gun battle when they attempted to serve warrants at the
Branch Davidian stronghold, setting off a siege now in its 41st day.
	Accounts of how many cult members were killed or wounded have been
confusing since that bloody Sunday outside Waco because reports from
inside the camp have varied widely and federal agents have been unable
to confirm the figures.
	But Friday, FBI Special Agent Richard Schwein disclosed that Steve
Schneider, Koresh's top lieutenant, told negotiators that six cult
members were killed, five men and one woman. Two of the dead were
previously identified, he said.
	Schwein refused to identify the four new fatalties, saying the FBI
could not verify the accuracy of the information.
	``We can't publicly announce someone is dead without being able to
verify it. That's a terrible thing to tell a family,'' he told
reporters.
	The previously identified cult fatalities were Peter Gent, an
Australian, who was buried outside the compound, and Michael Schroeder,
who was killed in a second gunfight outside the compound Feb. 28.
	Schneider told the FBI that none of the children were injured to his
knowledge. According to Koresh's figures, 17 of the 96 people who remain
inside Mount Carmel are children. Thirty-five people have left.
	Schneider again emphasized that neither he or Koresh ever agreed to
surrender after Passover, which according to their observance will end
April 13. Cult lawyers had indicated they might come out at the end of
the observance.
	FBI agents continue using loud sounds and bright lights at night to
keep the Branch Davidians awake, and they have indications they may be
running low on water. Electricity was cut off weeks ago. They eat
prepared military meals, according to the agents.
	Schwein, who supervises the nightly psychological warfare, said
authorities will keep the pressure up until Koresh and his followers
walk out.
	``We're going to get them out of there and they're going before the
bar of justice to answer for the murder of federal agents,'' he said.
	Cult members have displayed two new signs from a window, one of them
accusing the FBI of lying. Reporters have been unable to read the second
one through their telephoto lenses at the media camp two miles away.
	Schwein also said that another cult member appeared on the roof of
the compound Thursday night but went back inside. It was the second
night in a row that federal agents have seen members of the sect sneak
out and then return.
	He said they may be taking a smoke break.
	``The only person in there allowed to associate with females, or
drink, or smoke is Koresh,'' Schwein said. ``So we think like sixth-
graders, these guys snuck out for a smoke.''

From: [email protected] (TIM VANDENACK)
Subject: Mexicans gather to mark Jesus' crucifixion
Date: Fri, 9 Apr 93 19:10:34 PDT

	MEXICO CITY (UPI) -- More than 1 million residents in the Mexican
capital gathered along a 2.5-mile route on a city hillside Friday for
Easter-related activities culminating in the mock trial and crucifixion
of Jesus.
	The events leading up to Mexico City's 150th annual Via Crucis
ceremony started last Sunday, Palm Sunday, and continued Thursday with
the re-enactment of Christ's Last Supper.
	On Friday, participants gathered in the Iztapalapa neighborhood in
the eastern part of the sprawling capital to watch the mock judgment of
the religious figure.
	Afterward, the high school student playing the part of Jesus walked
up the hillside and during the final stretch was greeted by crying
girls. The Jesus figure was mock whipped before being tied to the cross.
There was no actual crucifixion.
	For many of those who came to watch the solemn event, the re-
enactment was foremost a religious ceremony and not entertainment.
	``For us it is more important,'' said Marcelino Bartolome of Mexico
City, who brought his two children to Iztapalapa's Hill of the Star to
watch the ceremony. ``It is very religious.''
	The Via Crucis ceremony is the biggest of Mexico's Semana Santa, or
Holy Week, activities -- the size of the gathering crowd Friday certainly
reinforced that -- but one historian said the tradition is ``losing
ground.''
	Semana Santa is the four-day Easter holiday in this largely Catholic
country to mourn Christ's crucifixion and celebrate his resurrection.
Police officials said they expected 1.5 million participants for Via
Crucis activities.
	``The stronghold of Semana Santa is in the lower classes,'' said
Mexico City history professor Lorenzo Meyer. ``They are the ones that
still go to Iztapalapa.''
	However, Meyer, who teaches at El Colegio de Mexico, said most
Mexicans view the traditional Thursday and Friday off from work during
Semana Santa merely as an opportunity to relax.
	``The tradition is really losing ground,'' he said. ``Now most of the
people go to the beaches. They don't pay any attention to the tradition.
''
	Though larger Mexican cities still have Semana Santa celebrations,
Meyer said that through the 1940s every city and town would have a
ceremony of some sort.
	He attributed the decline to the ongoing ``conflict'' between the
Mexican state, with which the middle and upper classes more readily
identify, and the church, with which the lower classes traditionally
identify.
	Mexico only officially recognized the Roman Catholic Church last year
after 150 years of estrangement.
	Thursday's Via Crucis activities included a Roman Catholic mass and a
re-enactment of Christ's Last Supper. Via Crucis is the Latin phrase
that refers to the path Jesus walked to his crucifixion.
	Friday's activities continued with a re-enactment of the judgment of
Jesus, his walk to Calvary and his crucifixion. Thousands of performers
played the parts of Roman soldiers, the two thieves with whom Jesus was
crucified, judges and others involved in Jesus' crucifixion.

From: [email protected] (CHARLES RIDLEY)
Subject: Pope leads 'Way of Cross' ceremony at ancient Colosseum
Date: Fri, 9 Apr 93 12:54:22 PDT

	ROME (UPI) -- Pope John Paul II led a spectacular ``Way of the Cross''
ceremony at Rome's ancient Colosseum Friday watched by some 10,000
pilgrims and tourists at the torch-lit scene and other millions
throughout the world on ``Mondovision.''
	The traditional ceremony, also enacted throughout the Christian
world, climaxed rites in which the 72-year-old Polish pope led the
world's 900 million Roman Catholics in mourning the death of Christ on
the cross. The mourning turns to joy Sunday, when Christians celebrate
Christ's resurrection.
	Earlier Friday the pope continued the tradition he started in 1980 of
listening personally to the confessions of a dozen ordinary pilgrims
chosen at random from several hundred who flocked to St. Peter's
basilica around noon.
	They included a Chicago secretary identified as Karen Peterson, who
said ``I feel like fainting'' when called forward to confess to the
pope.
	Others included a young Japanese couple, a woman and her son from the
West African republic of Ghana, a Madrid woman student who shed copious
tears after confessing and a New York pre-packaged food distributor.
	In the afternoon John Paul, in elaborate crimson robes, presided over
solemn rites in St. Peter's Basilica commemorating the ``Passion of the
Lord'' -- Christ's suffering and death on the cross.
	During the ceremony, an American priest prayed for John Paul, saying
``May God give him health and strength to govern God's people.''
	The Way of the Cross ceremony started after dark in chilly spring
weather. It brought some 10,000 pilgrims and tourists to the world-
famous Colosseum, the symbol of ancient Rome where Christians were
thrown to the lions in the early years of martyrdom.
	Many nuns and others watching the ceremony carried candles whose
flickering light added an extra touch of mysticism to the scene,
illuminated by Roman torches and floodlights.
	The pope carried a six-foot lightweight wooden cross, held close to
his face, as the procession wound slowly from the Colosseum up the
Palatine Hill, one of the ``seven hills'' of ancient Rome.
	The pope and the priests flanking him paused at each of the 14
stations representing Christ's Holy Friday sufferings, starting with his
condemnation by the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate, through the
crucifixion, to his burial in a borrowed tomb.
	In his brief address at the end of the ceremony the pope referred to
``the Colosseum, which speaks to us of ancient Rome.''
	``It was at that time that the cross entered the life and death of
the first Christians, called to bear witness to Christ by the sacrifice
of their lives,'' John Paul said.
	``Centuries later, there are still people who, like the Christians of
ancient pagan Rome, have adored the cross with the sacrifice of their
lives,'' he said.
	On Saturday the pope devotes most of his day to private prayer and
meditation, preparing for the traditional Easter Vigil in St. Peter's
cathedral, which leads Catholics out of the 40-day period of Lenten
mourning into 50 days of Easter joy for the resurrection.
	On Sunday, after an open-air Mass in St. Peter's square, the pope
will give his ``Urbi et Orbi'' (to the City and the World) blessing and
read his Easter message before some 200,000 pilgrims and tourists.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Church runs drive-thru Passion Play
Date: 10 Apr 93 16:19:48 GMT

	WAYNE, N.J. (UPI) -- A play depicting the life of Christ is a
traveling show with a twist at a New Jersey church.
	The patrons do the traveling while the actors remain in place.
	For the past six years on Easter Sunday, Calvary Temple in Wayne,
about 20 miles northwest of New York, has presented a free drive-through
play tracing the life of Christ.
	Motorists drive a serpentine course in the church's parking lot and
stop to watch elaborate scenes acted out by more than 100 church members
as well as live animals.
	A tape player the provides narration, a musical score and directions
for proceeding to each of 10 two-minute scenes.
	A shuttle service is also offered using vans borrowed from
congregation members and other churches.
	``There are many people who are hesitant to ever enter a church,''
said associate pastor Tom Philipps, adding that with the drive-through,
``people can remain in the security of their own cars and yet see this
great story.
	Philipps said church officials were looking for a new way to bring
more attention to the Easter story six years ago. They borrowed the
drive-through idea from a Southern church that held a drive-through
Christmas pageant.
	The church runs the play for five nights each year when weather
permits.
	More than 3,000 people drove through the four-day presentation this
year, with attendance peaking at more than 1,000 on Good Friday. The
final performance on Saturday was canceled due to rain.

From: [email protected] (GEORGE JOSEPH)
Subject: Armed Muslim militants rampage in Kashmir's summer capital
Date: 10 Apr 93 16:33:25 GMT

	SRINAGAR, India (UPI) -- Heavily armed Islamic militants protesting
the killing of a top guerrilla commander rampaged through downtown
Srinagar Saturday, setting ablaze buildings and stores and opening fire
on police and paramilitary troops, state authorities said.
	The rampage sparked fierce gunbattles between the separatist
insurgents and security forces in Srinagar, the summer capital of
troubled Kashmir.
	At least two dozen people were reported killed and 260 houses and
stores burned in the violence.
	The violence came a day after security forces said they killed the
deputy chief of the underground Hizbul Mujahideen fundamentalist group
and four Afghan mercenaries in a raid on a militant hideout.
	Armed with automatic assault rifles and shoulder-fired rockets,
hundreds of insurgents attacked police posts and patrols at several
places and set fire to buildings in the heart of Srinagar, Kashmir
police chief B.S. Bedi said.
	The militants stormed the Srinagar headquarters of India's
paramilitary Border Security Force (BSF) and set it ablaze. The BSF
troops were caught off guard, a Kashmir government spokesman said.
	The blaze spread quickly from the BSF headquarters to adjacent
structures, destroying or damaging five blocks of buildings housing
businesses, stores and apartments in Srinagar's downtown Lal Chowk
district, the spokesman said.
	At least two charred bodies were recovered from the BSF headquarters,
police said. The victims could not immediately be identified.
	Authorities ordered a curfew after the guerrilla violence began. The
curfew, however, was lifted late Saturday after state officials claimed
security forces had regained control over the situation in the city, a
hotbed of the Muslim insurgency.
	``The situation is calm now,'' Bedi said.
	The Hizbul Mujahideen, the main group involved in the rampage, said
in a press statement that it was ``observing a two-day general strike to
protest excesses of the Indian security forces.''
	The control of Kashmir is divided among India, Pakistan and China.
Indian-ruled Kashmir has been battered since 1990 by a bloody separatist
rebellion in which more than 3,000 people have died by government
accounts.
	More than two dozen Muslim groups are waging separate hit-and-run
campaigns in Kashmir. The Hizbul Mujahideen and other Islamic
fundamentalists want the Indian-controlled territory merged with Muslim
Pakistan, while other groups want an independent Kashmir free from all
foreign rule.
	An Indian defense ministry spokesman said the guerrilla commander and
the four Afghan mercenaries were killed in a shootout after Army troops
encircled a village near Srinagar and began a house-to-house search. The
search, he said, was conducted on the basis of a intelligence report
that militants were hiding in the hamlet of Pohar.
	The commander, Maqbool Illahi, was identified as the deputy chief of
the Hizbul Mujahideen group. His death was regarded by independent
analysts as a serious setback for the Pakistan-backed group.
	Hours after Illahi was killed, paramilitary troops fatally shot the
deputy chief commander and four other prominent members of another pro-
Pakistan radical group, the Tehreek ul-Mujahideen, Bedi said.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Koresh sends ``Letter from God'' to FBI
Date: 10 Apr 93 16:53:40 GMT

	WACO, Texas (UPI) -- A special agent revealed Saturday that Branch
Davidian leader David Koresh sent the FBI a four-page letter which he
said came from God, and which contained Old Testament threats to God's
enemies.
	``The letter conveys messages from God in the first-person,'' Special
Agent Bob Ricks said, ``And refers to David as 'my servant.'''
	Ricks said the letter, written ``as a revelation from God,'' is
threatening, and cites six biblical passages.
	``The gist of the letter, like the biblical passages, conveys
messages of a powerful, angry God, empowering his chosen people to
punish and harm those who oppose them.''
	``He cited Isiah 45; Revelations, Chapter 10, Verse 7; Revelations
18; Psalms 2; Jeremiah 50, 22-25; Psalm 18,'' Ricks said, noting that
the citations speak of an all-powerful God and are ``devoid of any of
the traditional Christian references of tempered non-violence that would
be associated with what we normally interpret the Christian message to
be.''
	He said the FBI would not release the letter because if its 
``evidentiary nature.''
	Ricks said FBI negotiators had not been able to reach those within
the fortified compound to alert them that concertina wire would be laid
around the compound, beginning on Saturday afternoon.
	The purpose of the wire would be to better control, upon surrender,
the 96 people who remain inside, according to Koresh's figures.
	``Too many people in the last few days have violated our
instructions,'' Ricks said.
	Ricks noted that Steve Schneider, Koresh's top lieutenant, ``Came out
on one occasion too many yesterday, and we need to have complete control
over those people as they come out.'' Agents set off flares and flash-
bang devices to frighten the defiant cultists who emerged Friday.
	Ricks said the FBI is proceeding under the belief that ``they will be
surrendering sometime next week after Passover'' and are putting up the
wire to ``ensure the safe handling of the people as they exit the
compound, and also to ensure that the crime scene is preserved.''
	Four Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents were killed in a
furious gun battle when they attempted to serve warrants at the
stronghold, setting off a siege now in its 41st day.
	With FBI permission, Schneider on Friday delivered the purported
letter from God and also set off a smoke cannister near the site where
members buried a cult member who died in the Feb. 28 attack in which
four federal agents died.
	However, Schneider apparently took advantage of the situation.
	Asked when Houston attorneys Dick Deguerin and Jack Zimmerman would
be allowed to re-enter the compound to consult with Koresh and
Schiender, Ricks said, ``The attorneys will only be allowed to go back
inside if it is the same day they (Koresh's followers) come out.''
	Ricks said of Koresh, ``If he is truly concerned with justice and
getting his message out, the only way to do it is to come out and face
the criminal justice system.''

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Cardinal welcomes talks on peace in Ulster
Date: Sun, 11 Apr 93 6:44:05 PDT

	LONDON (UPI) -- The head of the Catholic church in Ireland, Cardinal
Cahal Daly, Sunday welcomed the weekend talks between the leaders of
Northern Ireland's two main republican political parties.
	Daly said in his Easter message he hoped the talks between the leader
of the moderate Social Democratic Labor Party, John Hume, and Sinn Fein
president,Gerry Adams, who heads the political wing of the Irish
Republican Army, would help the peace process.
	The two leaders met for the first time in two years at a secret
location in Northern Ireland for the 90-minute talks on ways of ending
the violence in the troubled province. Both pledged to keep the contents
and the outcome of the meeting confidential.
	``I don't think that Mr. Hume would have gone into these talks if he
thought they were pointless. He must have good grounds for hoping that
they (Sinn Fein) do mean business -- that they are serious about a desire
for peace,'' Daly told ITN news.
	The meeting was prompted by clergymen in the Catholic church and
comes against the background of a growing mood for peace in Northern
Ireland.
	The Warrington bombing in northwest England last month, in which two
children were killed by two IRA blasts, sparked large peace protests in
Dublin and London.
	Last week, a senator in the Irish Republic, Gordon Wilson, met IRA
leaders to call on them to end their campaign of violence. He later
described the meeting as ``disappointing'' after IRA leaders refused to
call a halt to the violence.
	Wilson, who received an apology from the IRA for the murder of his
daughter in the Enniskillen bombing in 1987, told the Sunday Times that
he now supported internment without trial for loyalist and republican
terrorist suspects in Ulster.
	``I believe that both (the Irish and British) governments know who
these people are but cannot get proof or evidence because witnesses are
afraid to come forward,'' Wilson was quoted as saying.
	``If they cannot be convicted under the laws of the land, then you
and I and our families need the protection of knowing they are behind
bars. Where is the alternative -- to let them go on for another 23
years?''
	The outlawed Irish Republican Army has waged a bloody secessionist
campaign to bring an end to British rule in Northern Ireland. In the 23
years since the sectarian troubles began, more than 3,000 people have
been killed in loyalist and republican violence.

From: [email protected] (GREGORY GRANSDEN)
Subject: Millionaire, Afghan War hero contest presidency in Buddhist region
Date: Sun, 11 Apr 93 8:19:41 PDT

	ELISTA, Russia (UPI) -- Voters in Europe's only Buddhist territory
were casting ballots for a regional president Sunday in one of the
strangest electoral contests in post-communist Russia.
	The vote in Kalmykia, an autonomous southern republic within Russia,
pits a mysterious young millionaire promising capitalist dictatorship
against a traditional Soviet-style candidate calling for law and order
in the region.
	Both main candidates are Kalmyks, descendants of Mongolian nomads who
settled in the region in the 17th century and now make up half the
population. Russians and a smattering of other ethnic groups make up the
other half.
	Turnout was high, with just over two-thirds of the republic's 203,000
voters casting their ballots by 4 p.m. local time, the Interfax news
agency said. Voting was calm an orderly in this Kalmyk capital 1,140
miles southeast of Moscow.
	The leading contender, 31-year-old Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, is a local boy
who went to Moscow 11 years ago as a model young communist and returned
to his native land as one of Russia's richest men, preaching the virtues
of capitalism and private enterprise.
	``We must not slide futher into economic ruin,'' he recently told a
group of farm workers. ``Either we retreat into the past or move into
the future towards a market economy.''
	His main challenger is Maj. Gen. Valery Ochirov, a tough-talking 42-
year-old war hero who won the Soviet Union's highest award for bravery
as a helicopter commander in Afghanistan. He promises more gradual
economic reform with strong emphasis on law and order.
	Ochirov accuses his opponent of secretly planning to lead Kalmykia to
separate from Russia, which he warns would ignite ethnic conflict in the
region similar to the tribal wars currently raging in the neighboring
Caucasus Mountains.
	``What's worrying is this tendency to tear Kalmykia from Russia,'' he
said in an interview. ``In a multi-ethnic republic, this would have
serious consequences. It's incomprehensible.''
	Ilyumzhinov promises to impose ``economic dictatorship'' to speed the
transition to capitalism, turning Kalmykia into a low-tax zone with
wealth built on foreign investment and development of the region's
mostly untapped oil reserves.
	He offers an authoritarian solution to the endless political
skirmishes between conservatives and reformers that have paralyzed
governments across Russia. He will simply abolish the communist-
dominated regional Parliament and other Soviet-era state bodies --
including the local KGB -- and suspend pro-communist political parties
and newspapers, while banning strikes and demonstrations.
	``There are too many bosses in the republic. And when that happens,
you can't decide anything,'' said Ilyumzhinov. ``I propose to bring
order to the political system.''
	Ilyumzhinov has used his vast fortune to conduct a lavish American-
style presidential campaign, traveling through the countryside in a
sleek black Lincoln Continental stretch limousine and staging rock
concerts with famous Russian pop stars.
	Voters in the impoverished region -- which is mainly covered by semi-
arid steppe -- have been treated to a bonanza of extravagant campaign
spending by the young millionaire.
	Ilyumzhinov donated money to Russian Orthodox churches and a Buddhist
monestery, pleasing voters of both the republic's main religious faiths.
He gave cash and cars, including a Mercedes-Benz, to the local police.
He subsidized the price of bread and milk for a month to help low-income
families.
	If he wins, he says he'll give $100 cash -- more than most residents
make in an entire year -- to each family in the republic of 322,000
people to make his reforms easier to swallow.
	Voters have their doubts about Ilyumzhinov and the mysterious source
of his wealth. There are dark rumors of organized crime connections, and
a local investigative committee once linked him to the disappearance of
over $1 million of state funds.
	But Ilyumzhinov's youth and energy, his personal success, his vows to
sweep away the hated bureaucracy inherited from the Soviet era, his
extravagant promises of a capitalist future attracts voters who believe
they have little to gain from the existing political order.
	``People believe that everthing will be different, that it will be
like Kuwait,'' said Natalya Baulkina, an architect. ``He says he'll
build capitalism in Kalmykia.''

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Christians mark Easter in Jerusalem
Date: Sun, 11 Apr 93 9:20:40 PDT

	JERUSALEM (UPI) -- Thousands of worshipers from around the world
celebrated Easter Mass Sunday at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,
revered by Christians as the site of the Resurrection.
	The Roman Catholic leader in Jerusalem, Latin Patriarch Michel
Sabbah, delivered a homily calling for peace in the Holy Land, but also
criticized Israeli policies toward the Palestinians.
	``If we are surrounded on all sides by violence and official
obstinance which perpetuates the violence, we must hold tightly to our
faith and announce to everybody, whatever their point of view, that we
believe peace is possible,'' Sabbah told the thousands of faithful who
crowded into the ancient church.
	``Our faith and our hope are elements in the struggle and in our the
difficulties of our daily lives, Palestinians and Jews. We carry every
human being in our prayers and to everyone, we announce our hope that
one day, all those who engage in violence, on both sides, will change
their vision and their path.''
	After the mass Sabbah led a procession of priests and hooded monks
through the church, followed by local dignitaries that included
Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek and the consuls of Spain, Italy, Belgium
and France.
	Palestinian Christians who applied for permits to come to Jerusalem
for the Easter mass were allowed into the city, said Elise Shazar,
spokeswoman for the Civil Administration, the military body governing
the occupied territories.
	Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ two days after he
was crucified by the Romans. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which
covers the sites where Christ is believed to have been crucified, buried
and resurrected, has been packed with visiting pilgrims all week
commemorating Christ's last days.
	On Friday groups of worshippers commemorating Good Friday carried
large, heavy crosses along the cobblestoned Via Dolorosa, the path
Christ walked to his crucifixion.
	Some 80,000 tourists, about half of them Christians, have come to
Israel in April to celebrate Good Friday, Easter and the Jewish holiday
of Passover, according to the Ministry of Tourism.
	Additional police patrolled Jerusalem, but there were no reports of
any disturbances Sunday.

From: [email protected] (CHARLES RIDLEY)
Subject: Pope in Easter message calls on world leaders to end Bosnia war
Date: Sun, 11 Apr 93 9:54:32 PDT

	VATICAN CITY (UPI) -- Pope John Paul II, in his Easter message ``to
the City and the World,'' called on world leaders Sunday to end ``the
atrocious drama being relentlessly played out in Bosnia-Herzegovina.''
	``No one can consider that this tragic situation is not their affair,
a situation which humiliates Europe and seriously compromises the future
of peace,'' John Paul said.
	``Leaders of nations, men and women of good will, with my heart
overflowing with sorrow, I appeal once more to each of you: Stop this
war'', he exclaimed.
	The pope spoke before an estimated 180,000 pilgrims and tourists who
crammed St. Peter's square despite chilly weather and heavy clouds that
occasionally sprinkled the throng with light rain.
	The open-air ``Mass of the Resurrection'' that preceded the pope's
blessing and message ``Urbi et Orbi'' (To the City and the World``) was
televised by Mondovision to 62 nations around the globe.
	As usual, at the end of his message from the flower-bedecked central
balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, the pope read Easter greetings, this
time in 57 languages, including obscure tongues from Africa and Asia.
	In his message in Italian that opened the long recital of greetings,
John Paul had special words of encouragement for Italians afflicted by a
nationwide corruption scandal that has thrown the political scene into
confusion.
	``Despite the present difficulties, Italy has so many resources from
which to obtain light and support to build, in the path traced by the
Catholic tradition, a serene and secure future,'' he said. ``I wish from
my heart that the clouds lowering today may soon be dispersed thanks to
the efforts of the whole population.''
	At the heart of his Easter message, the 72-year-old Polish pope
placed what he called ``the atrocious drama being relentlessly played
out in Bosnia-Herzegovina'', a theme which has been the subject of
prayers during most of the Holy Week rites.
	``Put an end, I beg you, to the unspeakable cruelties whereby human
dignity is being violated and God, our just and merciful Father, is
being offended,'' John Paul said.
	But the pope also spoke up once again for Africa, a continent he has
visited 10 times since he was elected head of the Roman Catholic Church
in October, 1978.
	``I am thinking especially of those countries of Africa which feel
frustrated in their aspirations to peace, such as Angola, Rwanda and
Somalia, or which are moving, amid a thousand difficulties, toward the
goals of democracy and harmony, such as Togo and Zaire,'' the pope said.
	He also deplored ``the fratricidal struggles causing bloodshed in the
region of the Caucasus.''
	Despite his tiring week of papal ceremonies, the pope's voice
remained strong and his movements resolute through the long Mass. But he
was expected to go to the summer papal residence at Castel Gandolfo, 12
miles south of Rome, for a few days rest later on Sunday.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Attempted murder trial of former preacher enters fourth week
Date: Sun, 11 Apr 93 12:37:40 PDT

	SAN ANTONIO (UPI) -- Defense attorneys this week will try to elicit
testimony they hope will create reasonable doubt in the minds of jurors
hearing the case of a former Dallas minister accused of trying to kill
his wife so he could start a new life with his lover.
	The trial of Walker Railey enters its fourth week Monday in San
Antonio, nearly 300 miles away from the comfortable home where Margaret
``Peggy'' Railey was attacked nearly six years ago. The trial was moved
out of the Dallas-Fort Worth area because of the extensive media
coverage the case received.
	In 11 days of testimony from more than 40 witnesses, the prosecution
attempted to convince the jury that Railey was the only person with the
``motive and means'' to attack his wife. Peggy Railey was nearly choked
to death on April 22, 1987, but the assailant did not finish her off.
Now 43, she is in a persistent vegetative state and is being cared for
at a nursing home in Tyler.
	Prosecutors allege Railey, now 45, wanted to kill his wife so he
could move to California and start a new life with his lover, Lucy
Papillon. But after presenting testimony from witnesses ranging from
Papillon to police and paramedics, prosecutors acknowledge the state's
case is based on circumstantial evidence. After resting his case
Thursday, Assistant District Attorney Cecil Emerson conceded ``there's
no witnesses and no confession.''
	But Emerson maintains the prosecution has damaging evidence that
Railey had a mistress with whom he was so obsessed that he did not try
to help or comfort his wife as she lay writhing and fighting for her
life on the floor of the garage at the family home.
	Emerson said evidence suggests Railey, once a rising star in the
Methodist church, tried to hide his whereabouts during a 90-minute
period the night his wife was attacked. Prosecutors said Railey wanted
to ``get rid'' of his wife so he could be free to pursue his
relationship with Papillon, a former model turned psychologist and the
daughter of a Methodist bishop.
	Defense attorney Doug Mulder said none of the evidence brought by the
state is strong enough to convict Railey on a charge of attempted
murder.
	``They (prosecutors) haven't met the burden of proof,'' Mulder said
last week. ``The benchmark is 'reasonable doubt.' And they haven't met
that yet. They haven't come close.''
	Railey himself is confident he will be acquitted. He said last week
he plans to return to California, where he was living until he was
indicted last August and extradited to Texas. ``I bought a roundtrip
ticket when I came here,'' he said.

From: [email protected] (STEPHEN BUEL)
Subject: Administration says Waco policy directed ``at the highest level''
Date: Sun, 11 Apr 93 13:25:13 PDT

	WASHINGTON (UPI) -- Strategy at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco,
Texas, is being directed ``at the highest level,'' the White House said
Sunday, and Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen acknowledged that he
intervened to prevent more force from being used to dislodge the heavily
armed religious cultists.
	Bentsen said in a television interview that he proscribed any
additional use of force by agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms -- which is part of his Treasury Department -- after the Feb. 28
raid on the compound in which four ATF agents were killed and 16
wounded.
	The raiders were trying to serve a warrant for weapons violations at
the heavily armed compound but apparently lost the element of surprise
at the last minute, resulting in two blistering gun battles that echoed
throughout the area 10 miles from Waco in central Texas. An unknown
number of cultists were also killed.
	A White House spokesman declined to explain the level of Washington-
based tactical supervision of the operation, but he noted that Bentsen
and President Clinton receive daily briefings about government
operations outside the religious compound.
	``All I can tell you is it's being handled at the highest level,''
said Deputy White House press secretary Arthur Jones when asked about
Bentsen's comments.
	In an interview on the NBC program ``Meet the Press,'' Bentsen also
suggested that any additional use of force at the compound would need
his approval.
	Jones repeatedly declined to say to what level the authority of field
commanders for the ATF and other law enforcement agencies had been
supplanted by officials in Washington.
	``We can't address those strategies in any detail, but I can tell you
that the president and the secretary have been discussing that situation
every day,'' Jones said.
	``The AFT is under the jurisdiction of the secretary,'' he noted.
	And during his brief televised remarks about the standoff -- now in
its 43rd day -- Bentsen suggested that he takes that jurisdiction
seriously.
	``I spent most of one night trying to be sure that there was not an
additional use of force in that situation,'' Bentsen said.
	Asked about the potential for future enforcement actions at the
compound, Bentsen suggested that something of that nature is unlikely.
	``Oh, I don't know of any such decision, and I would sure know about
it before anything like that was done,'' Bentsen said. ``One of the
things I was doing was to be sure that that was not done again.''
	Although the raid was carried out by ATF agents, the FBI has taken
over the negotiations for the surrender of cult leader David Koresh and
his followers. The Texas Rangers are also involved in the standoff.
	Bentsen reiterated that Treasury will convene a panel to study what
went wrong in the raid.
	``What we will now do is set up a commission to review this situation
to make a full investigation of what happened and what can be avoided in
the future,'' Bentsen said. ``But I'm sure that we would use the
appropriate authorities, who have the responsibility, before any force
is used again, and hopefully that will not be.''

From: [email protected] (BAHAA ELKOUSSY)
Subject: Militants kill police General and two aides in Egypt
Date: Sun, 11 Apr 93 14:12:42 PDT

	CAIRO, Egypt (UPI) -- Muslim militants gunned down a police general
and two of his assistants Sunday in one of the most troubled areas in
southern Egypt, and a fundamentalist group later claimed responsibility
for the attack.
	Gen. Mohamed Abdel Latif El Sheemy, assistant chief of police in the
province of Assiut, a non-commissioned officer and his driver were
ambushed and shot dead near the police station of Abu Teig in Assiut.
Muslim militants have been very active in the province, about 200 miles
south of Cairo.
	El Sheemy was the highest ranking police official killed so far in
the ongoing war between the government security forces and the
militants, who seek to create an Iranian-style theocracy that would
enforce Islamic laws in everyday life.
	National media and police said the senior official, who was Muslim
himself, was on his way to pay a courtesy visit to loal Coptic
Chrisitian leaders as they celebrated Palm Sunday.
	Later in the day, someone claiming to speak on behalf of the Gama'at
El Islamiya organization, the militant Muslim group involved in much of
the violence, called news agencies to claim responsibilty for the
attack.
	The caller said, ``We killed El Sheemy in retaliation for the killing
of Shedid El Qassas,'' who was gunned down in a shootout with police on
March 25. During his funeral in Abu Teig, militant mourners vowed harsh
retaliation through loudspeakers.
	Observers in Cairo agree that the killing of the general is a major
setback to attempts by the moderate, secular government of President
Hosni Mubarak to stem the militants' activities.
	Reports from the area said the main highway that links Cairo with
Aswan in the south and runs through Assiut was closed by security forces
at the borders of the troubled province as police searched for the
attackers.
	The war between the government and Muslim extremists has claimed the
lives of more than 130 people since March 1992 and has already cost the
country's ailing economy hundreds of millions of dollars in lost
revenues from the hard-hit tourism industry.
	Tourism is Egypt's chief earner of foreign currency and employs more
than 1 million people.
	Also on Sunday, police reported they defused five explosive devices
that were placed by a suspected militant under two tourist buses near
Cairo's Citadel of Saladin. The suspect was arrested.
	The extremists began targeting tourism last October to turn up the
heat on the government. Three tourists were killed and two other dozen
were wounded in the attacks.
	Assiut has been the scene of much of the violence involving Muslim
activists. Last month, nine militants and two policemen were killed in
one gun battle there, including the leader of the Gama'at's military
wing, Ahmed Zaki.
	A police source who requested anonymity told United Press
International police believe Zaki's successor, Mahmoud Selim, and Abdel
Hameed Abu Aqrab, the nephew of a member of the parliament, were among
the perpetrators of the attack on El Sheemy.
	In a statement issued late Sunday, the Interior Ministry, which
controls police nationwide, did not blame Muslim militants for the
attack. It said top officials of the ministry and its forensic
department moved to the scene.
	The three policemen will be given a heroes' funeral under tight
security measures. It was announced that a representative of Mubarak and
other top aides will atend the services.
	Evening issues of state-run daily newspapers said an intensive
manhunt was already under way to capture the attackers.
	In an interview with the French newspaper Le Figaro reprinted in
Cairo Sunday, Mubarak said security authorities had captured along with
some militants arms that had been used in the Afghan war. He charged
that the weapons were smuggled into the country via Sudan, Egypt's
southern neighbor.
	Mubarek once again accused the Muslim fundamentalist regimes in Iran
and Sudan of financing, arming and training the extremists to
destabilize Egypt.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Hundreds gather for appearance by Virgin Mary
Date: Sun, 11 Apr 93 17:38:38 PDT

	KETTLE RIVER, Minn. (UPI) -- A break in the clouds and an unexpected
burst of sunlight lifted the spirits of a snow-sodden crowd who gathered
in a northern Minnesota hayfield for a predicted Easter appearance by
the Virgin Mary.
	There was no sign of the mother of Christ at the appointed 3 p.m.
hour Sunday despite the hopes and prayers of an estimated 3,000 people
who traveled from as far as Arizona, Florida and England. But when the
sun broke through for the first time on an otherwise overcast day, many
in the crowd took it as a sign of a divine blessing on the day's
activities.
	``How often do you see this many people all together praying in this
day and age?'' said one woman. ``If only for that, it was a beautiful
thing.''
	Local authorities earlier Sunday closed roads leading to the field
where a 10-foot wooden cross marked the site where two men said the
Virgin Mary told them to build a chapel and housing complex north of
Kettle River. The small farming town is about 100 miles north of
Minneapolis.
	By noon about 250 pilgrims were huddled under small tarpaulin tents
and umbrellas after hiking nearly two miles to the makeshift mecca, now
known as the ``Field of the Cross.'' A steady stream continued into the
afternoon, braving near freezing temperatures and a stern warning by
Roman Catholic authorities to stay away.
	The crowd included many children, seniors and people in wheelchairs,
most of whom said the soggy trek was worth it even when the Blessed
Virgin did not show. They said the site is holy and that the power of
their faith was a miracle in itself.
	Steve Marino, who predicted the Easter apparition, did not attend the
event and reportedly was in the former Yugoslavia at another shrine
where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared several years ago.
	Also absent was Earl Nett, the owner of the property where Marino
claimed to have been told to construct the cross and a 10,000-seat
sanctuary. The two also intend to build a seven-story apartment complex
near the site.
	Bishop Roger Schwietz of the Duluth Roman Catholic diocese repeatedly
denounced Marino and Nett. Schwietz said their claims were groundless
and he feared the alleged apparition was only the first step in a
misguided attempt to form a splinter sect from the church.
--
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From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Pope greets festive pilgrims at papal summer residence
Date: Mon, 12 Apr 93 7:14:23 PDT

	CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (UPI) -- Pope John Paul II, in a relaxed mood
after his Holy Week exertions, Monday greeted festive pilgrims who
flocked to see him at the papal summer residence.
	The pope flew to the Apostolic Palace in the wine-growing village of
Castel Gandolfo, 12 miles south of Rome, by helicopter from the Vatican
early Monday, the Vatican press office said.
	At noon he appeared on a balcony overlooking an inner courtyard of
the residence where he usually spends a few of the hottest summer weeks
and recited the Regina Coeli (Queen of Heaven) prayer before some 3,000
pilgrims and tourists.
	His words were relayed over loudspeakers to Easter crowds in St.
Peter's Square.
	John Paul, 72, appeared jovial and after the prayer and a brief
address, he joked with the crowd, mostly on a day trip from Rome for the
traditional outing Italians enjoy on Easter Monday, a national holiday
known as ``Pasquetta'' (Little Easter).
	``The Monday of the Angel (as Easter Monday is known in the Catholic
Church), traditionally characterized by the tonic-giving experience of a
legitimate relaxation, serves to make us feel the presence of the
resurrected Christ,'' he said in his brief address.
	The pope said that, other than in prayer, ``we can meet Christ in
various moments of life, if we live with faith and love.
	``A concrete place of a meeting with Christ can also be the simple
joy of being together, the cordiality of a welcome, friendship and the
enjoyment of nature,'' he said.
	Echoing sentiments he expressed in his Easter message ``To the City
and the World'' in St. Peter's Square Sunday, John Paul prayed to the
Virgin Mary to grant ``concord and peace, above all for populations
still gripped in the bite of war, and for those who are tried by
illness, solitude and need.''
	Vatican sources said the pope was expected to remain in Castel
Gandolfo until Wednesday morning, returning to the Vatican in time for
his regular weekly general audience in the Paul VI auditorium.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: FBI says cult now wants more direct sign from God
Date: 13 Apr 93 05:19:01 GMT
Approved: [email protected]
ACategory: usa
Slugword: shootout
Priority: major
Format: regular
ANPA: Wc: 369/373; Id: a0161; Sel: na--a; Adate: 4-13-115aed; V: sked
Codes: ynbbrxx., yngwrxx., ynrcrxx., xxxxxxxx, //na--a/, na--a
Note: (editors: repeating earlier story)


	WACO, Texas (UPI) -- Cult leader David Koresh is looking for a natural
disaster, like an earthquake, as a direct message from God that he and
his followers should surrender, federal authorities say.
	FBI Special Agent Bob Ricks said Monday that Koresh gave a second
letter to federal agents on Saturday, written as a message from God, but
the agent said it appears Koresh now wants more than written or verbal
messages.
	``He (Koresh) has continually reinforced he is looking for certain
natural disasters to take place. He believes these will be a direct sign
from God,'' the agent said, giving as examples earthquakes and fires.
	Ricks said the Branch Davidians were ``quite excited'' last week
about the minor earthquake that occurred about 200 miles southwest of
Waco in south Texas, but he said they were less impressed when they
found out it was so far away.
	An aide to Koresh has told FBI negotiators that Koresh has ``the
power'' to predict natural disasters.
	The 44-day siege began Feb. 28 when four federal agents were killed
and 16 wounded as they attempted to serve a search warrant at the
heavily armed compound. Koresh said that six of his followers were
killed.
	The second letter is much the same as the first one turned over to
agents last Friday, quoting numerous Biblical verses and portraying a 
``vengeful God'' who warns against any harm coming Koresh, who
apparently dictates the letters.
	``It was again written as if God is speaking to Koresh, with
continued threats that if we do not listen to Koresh, we will be
devoured by fire or destroyed by other means,'' he said.
	Ricks said an aide to Koresh continues to say that Passover, which
ends this week, is not critical to their surrender despite hints dropped
by the cult leader's lawyers more than a week ago.
	Ricks also disclosed that two women inside the Mount Carmel compound
are pregnant, one of them due next month.
	There are still 96 people inside the compound, including 17 children,
according to Koresh's figures. Thirty-six people have walked out of the
stronghold since the siege began Feb. 28.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Railey testifies he did not attempt to kill wife
Date: Mon, 12 Apr 93 14:22:06 PDT

	SAN ANTONIO (UPI) -- A onetime prominent Dallas minister took the
witness stand Monday in his San Antonio trial for attempted murder and
denied in emotional testimony that he tried to kill his wife.
	Dr. Walker Railey was asked by his attorney if he tried to strangle
his wife, and he replied, ``No, I didn't.'' He also said he did not know
who choked Peggy Railey, nearly killing her, six years ago at their
home.
	Railey, the 45-year-old former senior pastor at Dallas' high-profile
First United Methodist Church, is on trial for attempted murder. His
wife remains in a persistent vegetative state at a nursing home, unable
to testify.
	During three hours of testimony, Railey recalled threatening letters
he received the weeks before the attack, saying they referred to him 
``as a nigger lover, as a communist'' because of his sermons preaching
racial harmony.
	Railey recalled a ``small brown car'' that followed him around town
during the same time. On one day he said he turned into a police
substation to avoid the shadowing car that sped on down the street.
	Prosecutors contend that Railey attempted to kill his wife so he
could run away with his lover, Lucy Papillion. Defense attorneys contend
police failed to investigate other possible suspects in the crime.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Lawyer authorized to make phone contact with Koresh
Date: Tue, 13 Apr 93 11:19:52 PDT

	WACO, Texas (UPI) -- Cult leader David Koresh will be put in phone
contact with his lawyer again in hopes that the renewed third party
contact may spur a surrender that would end the 45-day siege, an FBI
spokesman said Tuesday.
	Houston lawyer Dick DeGuerin will be allowed to call Koresh on the
FBI phone line but he will not be permitted another face-to-face meeting
unless the FBI is assured he can guarantee a surrender that would end
the standoff.
	FBI Special Agent Bob Ricks said when DeGuerin and lawyer Jack
Zimmermann left the compound April 4 they believed Koresh and his more
than 90 followers would leave when Passover ended late Tuesday,
according to their beliefs.
	``The attorneys received assurances they believed they would be
coming out,'' the FBI spokesman said. ``Until this is disavowed by those
inside we are hopeful that this will happen.''
	DeGuerin and Zimmermann, who represents Koresh aide Steve Schneider,
have told reporters that their clients will not surrender unless they
are at their sides when they walk out of the heavily armed compound.
They arrived in Waco Monday.
	Schneider has told FBI negotiators since the lawyers left the
compound that Passover is ``not a big deal'' and that he and Koresh
never agreed to leave after Passover, so FBI officials temper their
current optimism with caution.
	The siege began Feb. 28 when four federal agents were killed and 16
wounded during a raid at the Branch Davidian compound. Koresh says that
six of his followers were also killed, but the FBI will not confirm the
figures.
	Negotiators also talked for more than five hours with Koresh early
Tuesday, discussing everything from his troubled youth as a ninth-grade
dropout with a learning disability to his current religious beliefs.
	Ricks also said Schneider assured the FBI that Koresh has no plans to
order his followers outside the compound to sabotage a local dam to make
his prophesy of a natural disaster reality. The agent also said the
number of Koresh followers outside the compound is ``not significant.''
	Koresh is apparently still awaiting a message from God to surrender,
but he has also said he would like to see a more direct sign from God
like a natural disaster, such as an earthquake or fire, according to the
FBI.

Article 3570 of clari.news.religion:
From: [email protected] (UPI)
Newsgroups: clari.news.gov.usa,clari.local.texas,clari.news.law.crime.violent,clari.news.children,clari.news.religion
Subject: White House claims ``mountain of evidence'' of child abuse
Date: Wed, 21 Apr 93 8:13:06 PDT

	WASHINGTON (UPI) -- President Clinton's chief spokesman said Wednesday
there was a ``mountain of evidence'' that children were abused at David
Koresh's religious cult in Waco, Texas.
	Communications director George Stephanopoulos said while there may
have been no fresh signs of any mistreatment, the youngsters of Koresh
and his followers were clearly in danger.
	President Clinton and Attorney General Janet Reno cited the children
as the main reason for the federal raid on Koresh's compound Monday that
turned into a disaster when cult members apparently died in a fire
ordered by Koresh.
	FBI Director William Sessions was quoted as saying Monday that there
was ``no contemporaneous information'' of any child abuse, spawning
reports of a contradiction inside the administration over reasons for
the assault.
	Stephanopoulos, appearing on CBS-TV's ``This Morning,'' denied that
Session's comments conflicted with those made by Clinton and Reno.
	The spokesman acknowledged that there was ``no specific information''
that Koresh had abused children in recent days.
	But, he said, ``We have mountains of evidence that there was child
abuse going on in that compound over a long period of time compiled by
witnesses who left the compound.''

From: [email protected] (DOUGLAS A. LEVY, UPI Science Writer)
Subject: Abortion pill licensed for U.S. trial
Date: Tue, 20 Apr 93 19:28:42 PDT

	WASHINGTON (UPI) -- The French manufacturer of the so-called 
``abortion pill,'' RU 486, agreed Tuesday to license the controversial
drug to a group which will seek approval to sell it in the United
States.
	The agreement means the lengthy drug approval process for the
abortion pill can get under way, despite objections from anti-abortion
activists who kept the French company from entering the United States
market.
	``With the encouragement of the U.S. government, Roussel-Uclaf has
agreed to license RU 486 to the Population Council for distribution in
the United States,'' said a Food and Drug Administration spokesman.
	The agreement was reached during a meeting in Rockville, Md., with
FDA Commissioner David Kessler, representatives of drug maker Roussel-
Uclaf and the Population Council, a private family planning group.
	The arrangement allows the Population Council to conduct clinical
trials of the drug in the United States and eventually to apply for FDA
approval of RU 486. The new drug approval process requires masses of
data on safety and effectiveness.
	While up to 2,000 women could get the drug in clinical trials, it
still could be years before the abortion pill becomes widely available,
the FDA spokesman said.
	Roussel-Uclaf has refused to be involved in marketing or manufacture
of RU 486 in the United States, but the agreement will enable another
company to make the product under the license.
	Family planning activists see RU 486 as a revolutionary advance in
fertility control, offering women a safer, easier, less traumatic and
much more private way to abort a pregnancy.
	Right-to-life proponents, who call the drug a ``death pill'' and 
``chemical warfare on the unborn,'' assert it may be unsafe, increasing
a woman's risk of cancer and a baby's chances of being born deformed.
	RU 486 has been approved for marketing only in Britain and France. In
France, the drug was once withdrawn by the drug's maker citing
opposition from anti-abortionists. But the company returned it to the
market two days later on the orders of the French government after an
uproar from doctors and family planning proponents.
	The drug is the most thoroughly tested of a group of drugs known as
anti-progesterones. They interfere with a hormone produced by the
ovaries called progesterone.
	the hormone is needed for the lining of the uterus, the endometrium,
to develop properly and offer an environment that can sustain the
developing fetus.
	Also known as mifepristone, the drug is a synthetic steroid whose
chemical structure resembles progesterone's. The drug locks into
progesterone receptors in the uterus, making it impossible for a
fertilized egg to grow there.
	In essence, the drug triggers a miscarriage.
	Studies have shown RU 486 alone causes a miscarriage in at least 80
percent of women, and in up to 96 percent of cases when accompanied by
the hormone prostaglandin, which enhances the action by causing the
uterus to contract.
	Some women who take the drug experience fatigue and nausea. Some
bleed so much they require transfusions. But studies indicate those side
effects are no more common than with standard surgical abortions.
	Even though the drug is only effective for up to about seven weeks
into a pregnancy, experts estimate RU 486 could replace more than half
to two-thirds of the 30 million to 40 million surgical abortions
performed worldwide because most are performed that early.
	RU 486 is also being tested as a possible treatment for breast and
other cancers, the sometimes fatal adrenal abnormality Cushing's
syndrome, glaucoma and possibly as a monthly contraceptive pill. But its
use as an alternative to surgical abortions has generated the most
excitement.
	Richard Glasow of the National Right to Life Committee accused the
FDA of ``promoting a strong, radical, pro-abortion position by
encouraging the importation and marketing of RU 486.''
	``Pro-life citizens will hold...the Clinton administration
responsible for bringing this deadly drug into the U.S.,'' Glasow said
in a statement.

From:	JULIET::DECPA::"mkm%[email protected]" "Mike K. McNair" 27-MAY-1993 07:58:51.84
To:	juliet::morales_na
CC:	
Subj:	Michigan Mom Jailed for Homeschooling (fwd)

Nancy,

FYI.

- Mike

> I scanned in this article from the May/June 1993 Christian American.
> I am thankful that New York state is kinder to us homeschoolers.
> Is there anyone out there currently homeschooling in Michigan that could
> give us an update on how the Williams' trial turned out?
> 
> 
> Michigan Mom Jailed for Homeschooling
> By Connie Zhu
> Christian American May/June 1993
> 
> 	When Bruce and Peggy Williams decided to homeschool three of their
> four children last summer, they never dreamed that seven months later this
> would lead to an evening in jail for the 39-year-old Michigan mother.
> 	It all started quite innocently after the Williams listened to a
> Focus on the Family program which told about author Raymond Moore's book,
> Home Style Teaching. After reading the book, and contacting Focus on the
> Family and the author for legal advice, the Williams decided to try
> homeschooling their son Daniel, 13, daughter Elizabeth Clare, 11, and
> Loretta, 5, in order to give them a Christian education.
> 	On August 31, 1992, the Williams sent a letter of their intentions
> to withdraw Daniel and Clare from the Hale Public Schools in Tawas City,
> Michigan.
> 	"The law didn't require the letter, we did this as a courtesy,"
> said Peggy.
> 	Although Michigan state law is ambiguous on the subject of
> homeschooling, the Williams sought legal counsel and completed the paperwork
> they believed required by the Michigan Department of Education. They began
> homeschooling their children in the Fall.
> 	But on March 9, 1993, Iosco Intermediate School District attendance
> officer Leonard Burdek called them with some disturbing news.
> 	"He said he was filling out the warrant for my arrest", said Peggy,
> who was arrested at 8:00 p.m. that evening by Sheriff's Deputy Sgt. J. Dobson.
> 	"I don't know why I'm here, my sister homeschools her children,"
> Dobson told Peggy. "But I have this warrant and I have to serve it."
> 	"I kissed the children and my husband goodbye," remembers Peggy.
> "At the police station they frisked me, fingerprinted me and made me undress
> in front of the lady guard." Peggy was then placed in a cell with two
> other women.
> 	Opposed to the idea of one his female parishioners spending the
> night in jail, Peggy's minister raised $200 and bailed her out about an
> hour and a half after her arrest.
> 	"When I got home at around 9:45 p.m. the children were crying. I
> could have probably handled a night in jail but I'm not sure they could
> have," she remembered.
> 	Peggy was arraigned on March 16 by Iosco County District Judge
> Edward Keller and charged with two counts of truancy, carrying a maximum
> penalty of two days per count, or $50 fine per count or both if convicted.
> She pled not guilty.
> 	The Iosco County Prosecutor Gary Rapp told Peggy's attorney David
> Melton that he was willing to plea bargain. But Melton, the Rutherford
> Institute's midAmerica regional coordinator demanded a jury trial for his
> client.
> 	"She's not guilty and we want a jury trial in front of her peers,"
> said Melton, who claims First and Fourteenth Amendment violations as well
> as due process violations.
> 	The Williams' two oldest children were also summoned to appear
> in juvenile court on charges of truancy and incorrigibility during the
> time they were homeschooled. At their April 5 pre-trial hearing, they
> pled not guilty. Their trial date is set for May 16, pending the result
> of their mother's May 6 trial.
> 	The school district said they took this action because the Williams
> violated Michigan Department of Education standards which require that one
> of the homeschooling parents have a college degree. Since Peggy doesn't,
> and Bruce won't finish his B.A. in accounting until May, they are not in
> compliance with state school regulations, according to Jean Shane, a
> consultant with the Michigan Department of Education.
> 	Even so Al Cropsey, a Michigan state representative and
> homeschooler who has been following the case, believes that the school
> could have informed this family if there were some educational rules
> that weren't being followed, rather than hauling them off to criminal court.
> 	"I think that there was an obvious overreaction of the
> intermediate school system", commented Cropsey, a legislator. "I can't
> believe that the intermediate school has the power to rip children away
> from their parents. It's serious and unconscionable that they have this
> type of power and they don't even know the law. They are clearly in the
> wrong on this."
> 	Cropsey said the proper procedure is for the school administration
> to conduct a hearing to instruct the parents about any violation of
> education compliance and present ways to correct it.
> 	"The very idea of the appearance of a police officer in the
> dark of the night to arrest a mom for the 'crime' of educating her
> own children is repugnant and reminiscent of Nazi intimidation tactics.
> It is the knock on the door every homeschooler dreads," Melton observed.
> "Dragging a parent from the safety of her home in the dead of night is
> coercion and intimidation, plain and simple. Mom was arrested. Dad wasn't."
> 	Cropsey, father of four homeschooled children, suspects that the
> real reason Peggy Williams was arrested boils down to economics. When
> children withdraw from public schools, the schools lose money. This was
> simply a way for the Michigan Education Association to exert pressure
> on parents who don't conform to their educational rules rather than what
> state law mandates, Cropsey said.
> 	"They [the MEA] see money and that's their main concern,"
> remarked Cropsey. "People need to wake up and smell the coffee.
> Homeschoolers aren't taking any tax dollars to educate their kids and
> they are doing a very good job."
> 	The question, said Cropsey is whether or not the public schools,
> who are spending approximately $4800 of taxpayer money per student, are
> doing as good a job.
> 	Cropsey isn't alone in his sentiments. Three other Michigan
> representatives, Jack Horten, Allen Lowe and Tim Walberg, also homeschool
> their children.
> 	Cropsey noted that there are two important homeschooling cases
> before the Michigan State Supreme Court. If the court rules in favor of
> homeschooling, the current legislation is sufficient to protect the rights
> of homeschoolers. If the court rules that a certified teacher must instruct
> homeschooled children, then the battle could become "absolutely vicious
> and brutal."
> 	"In most districts homeschoolers are just being left alone, because
> everyone is waiting for the Supreme Court," said David Kallman, who
> represents home and religious schools fighting state regulation. The court
> is expected to reach a decision this year but the ruling may come too late
> for Peggy Williams' trial. Still she is hopeful
> 	"We want to see it all turn out so we can educate our children in
> the way we see fit," said Peggy. "We want to see equitable legislation,
> freedom of choice."
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> 
> Darren Swartzendruber			Internet: [email protected]
> Northern Telecom NAS		Packet->Internet: [email protected]
> Rochester, NY
> 
> 



----- End Included Message -----


% ====== Internet headers and postmarks (see DECWRL::GATEWAY.DOC) ======
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% Received: from srs22g.scf.loral.com by srs21g.scf.loral.com (5.65a/SCF-3.12) id AA19318; Thu, 27 May 93 08:00:34 -070
% Date: Thu, 27 May 93 08:00:34 -0700
% From: mkm%[email protected] (Mike K. McNair)
% Message-Id: <[email protected]>
% To: juliet::morales_na
% Subject: Michigan Mom Jailed for Homeschooling (fwd)
% Return-Receipt-To: mkm%[email protected]
    

    
    >       "We want to see it all turn out so we can educate our children
       in the way we see fit," said Peggy. "We want to see equitable
       legislation, freedom of choice."
    
       Interesting comment here.  Sorry, Freedom of choice only applies if
    you want to kill your child before he/she is born, not when you want to
    supply the very best for him/her afterwards.

	*** Clarinet articles may not be forwarded outside DEC ***

        SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (UPI) -- The audience erupted into cheers when a
South Dakota high school senior said he was going to exercise his right
of free speech with a prayer.
        Interim Superintendent Bob Kiner had banned using prayers at the
graduation, citing a Supreme Court ruling that said school-sponsored
prayers violate the separation of church and state.
        Lincoln High School senior Ryan Oaks first read a poem to the
audience from the Sioux Falls area urging classmates to use their free-
speech rights.
        ``I am going to do just that. I am going to pray at graduation,''
Oaks said Sunday night, urging those who wanted to pray to join him.
        The audience broke into cheers and shouts before quieting for the
prayer.
        At least six students walked out of the ceremony, however.
        Tamara DePauw said students had been assured there would be no
prayer.
        ``We feel our rights have been violated,'' DePauw said.
        The principal said he was sorry those students who walked out were
offended but said there was nothing he could do. Oaks said he kept his
plans to himself.
        At nearby Roosevelt High School earlier in the day, senior Andrea
Larsen told the audience her edited speech ``didn't correctly display
what guides my value system.''
        The crowd gave her a 30-second standing ovation.

I don't have the article here to type in, but I read an article yesterday about
an animal-rights group in California that is raising all sorts of havoc over a
Bureau of Wildlife management decision to kill a few hundred ducks which are 
probably infected with an avian herpes virus that is fatal to many wildfowl.
There have been several past outbreaks of this virus which have killed thousands
of birds.  The animal rights group has protested, formed human chains in front
of the ducks, and obtained court orders delaying their destruction.

Sound familiar?  Yet the light in which these protesters were portrayed was
totally different than the light in which other people are portrayed when they
do exactly the same sorts of things to save human children instead of ducks.  
The article was in general fairly positive.  It portrayed the people as being a
bit misguided and extreme, but was fairly positive about their standing up for 
what they believe.  There was none of the derogative labelling applied to those
who are trying to save the ducks that is commonly and routinely applied to those
who are trying to save human beings.  There was a general respect for their 
committment within the disagreement with their position.

Sigh.  It's a wicked and perverse generation.

Paul

    
    This from the May 1993 issue of _Colorado_Christian_News_
    Reprinted without permission
    
    Washington, D.C. (EP) - Writing in the March issue of Crisis Magazine, 
    Michael Novak observes that of the 30 million unborn children lost to
    abortion since 1973, about 10 million were black.
    	"Since the number if currently living blacks is 31 million, the
    missing 10 million represents an enormous loss..." he notes. "Abortion
    has swept through the black community like a scythe, cutting down every
    fourth member."
     	Columnist Cal Thomas noted, "For blacks, abortion has achieved what
    lynch mobs did not.  It has kept the black population down and 'under
    control.'"
    

    Yesterday the US Supreme Court let stand a ruling that requires the
    reciting of the "Pledge of Allegiance" in Illinois public schools.  A
    very outspoken Chicago-area atheist, Rob Sherman, who successfully
    forced the city of Zion, Illinois, to modify the city seal to remove
    the words "God Reigns" (which the city replaced with "In God We
    Trust"), sought to ban the pledge because of the words "one nation
    under God" contained in it.  (The law requires schools to conduct the
    Pledge of Allegiance every morning.  Students, however, are not
    required under law to recite the pledge.)

    re.134
    
    That was the original intent of Planned Parenthood - eliminate the 
    "...undesireable..." people.  Too bad more people don't recognize this,
    it might help stop the taking of human life.
    
    Daryl 

    Does anyone get the CLARInet and could pick up where Daryl left off?
    
    I don't get them and don't know how to access them.
    
    Thanks,
    

    After what happened to the last 2, I'm not sure if we should volunteer.

    Re: Note 15.137 by JULIET::MORALES_NA
    
>   Does anyone get the CLARInet and could pick up where Daryl left off?
    
    Yes, I get them.  Remember?  ;-)  How 'bout I set something up for you
    so that it mails them to you?  You can then work out which ones you
    want to post.
    
>   I don't get them and don't know how to access them.
    
    It's called USENET, or Internet News.  If you did know how to access
    it, you'd probably be spending less time in here as a result, so I'm
    not sure I should tell you how it's done... ;-)
    
    James

    Hi james... :-)
    
    JimGle alias Jim Glenn wrote me offline and said he possibly could do
    this..... so JimGle are you gonna do it??? HuH?
    
    Nancy

    Yes.  I will start posting here.  Stay tuned for news as it occurs :-).
    
    JimGle
    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Teens head home after church busses collide

	FORT WORTH, Texas (UPI) -- More than 100 Illinois teenagers headed
home from a church mission to Mexico continued on their way Tuesday,
some of them still sore from injuries sustained when two of their three
busses collided.
	Authorities in Fort Worth said all but one of the 30 teens injured
were treated and released from several hospitals with cuts, bumps and
bruises. The pastor of a Fort Worth church that assisted the victims
said one teen spent the night at the hospital but was released Tuesday.
	Police said the driver of the lead bus hit his brakes to avoid a dump
truck that pulled in front of it during the afternoon rush hour Monday
on northbound Interstate 35W. The second bus struck the rear of the
first bus, but a third bus avoided the collision. None of the victims
was seriously hurt.
	Brain Hanley, 15, of Waukegan, Ill., was on the second bus and felt a
big bump.
	``It wasn't like people were flying through the air or anything.
Everyone just kind of hit the seats in front of them,'' Hanley said.
	The Rev. John Wilkerson of Bethel Temple in Fort Worth said 138 teens
spent the night at his church and Bethesda Community Church, and in the
homes of parishoners while mechanics worked to repair the buses.
	Wilkerson said, ``They were able to pull the bumpers out and fix the
electrical systems last night'' so the group could complete their
journey home. They were expected to arrive Wednesday morning.
	The youngsters were headed home after a mission trip to Juarez,
Mexico, sponsored by an Assembly of God parish in Naperville, Ill.
	Police said the truck driver left the scene and may not have been
aware of the collision.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Amish advised to bolt stereos

	MIDDLEFIELD, Ohio (UPI) -- Buggy thefts are not a problem in northeast
Ohio's Amish region, but thefts of stereos from the buggies owned by
Amish teenagers are becoming more common.
	Middlefield Police Chief David Easthon said one of the latest thefts
involved a $575 stereo system, along with cassettes worth $250. The
items were taken from a 17-year-old Amish boy's buggy that was parked at
a shopping plaza.
	The stolen equipment included a 120-watt equalizer and booster and
12-inch subwoofer speakers. The cassettes were of rock and country
music.
	Although Amish people generally shun 20th century technology, the
avoidance of showiness does not include sound.
	``It's not uncommon for Amish youths to have these stereos,'' Easton
said. ``They plug them into the 12-volt batteries they use to run their
buggy lights. They are allowed to have electronic stuff if it is
battery-operated.''
	The police chief said two other stereo outfits owned by Amish youths
were stolen last month from buggies parked at a mail hitching post. One
unit was valued at $300.
	``In a buggy, they can't lock the doors or close the windows,'' said
Easthon. ``They should try to bolt their stereos very securely or leave
someone to watch the expensive equipment when they go into shops, at
least until we solve these crimes.''
	An official at the Radio Shack store in Middlefield said up to 60
percent of the store's stereo customers are Amish people.
	``Some of these Amish buggies have some fancy tunes -- you've got to
see it to believe it,'' said Geauga County Sheriff's Lt. Dan McClelland.
``They like to crank 'en up, too. They'll be coming down the road at
night and you'll hear them playing.''


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Parishioners defy court, occupy church
Date: Tue, 22 Jun 93 14:04:33 PDT

	WORCESTER, Mass. (UPI) -- Police changed the locks and began boarding
the stained-glass windows of a Worcester cathedral Tuesday as two dozen
parishioners remained holed up inside, defying a court order to leave.
	The protesters, who have occupied St. Joseph's Church for more than a
year, have vowed not to leave until Bishop Timothy Harrington agrees to
rescind an order to close the building.
	Earlier this month, a Massachusetts Superior Court judge sided with
Harrington, ruling that the church was unsafe and ordered the protesters
out. State Appeals Court Judge Gerald Gillerman last week upheld the
ruling, but the occupation has continued.
	An attorney for the diocese has filed a motion in Worcester Superior
Court to have the parishioners charged with contempt of court. A hearing
on the contempt charges was scheduled Wednesday morning.
	The round-the-clock vigil began in May 1992 when Harrington ordered
the church closed because of structural problems. About 25 protesters
remained inside Tuesday.
	Hundreds of parishioners filled the church Sunday for a prayer
service led by the Save St. Joseph's Committee, but a spokesman for the
diocese, Father John Barrett, said Tuesday police were no longer letting
people into the building.
	Harrington has not held a mass in the church since he ordered it
closed, and reassigned the pastor to another church.
	Barrett said police will have to decide what further action, if any,
to take to enforce the court order.
	``Naturally, we're not going to lock people into the church,''
Barrett said. ``We hope they will leave peacefully.''

    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Michigan assisted suicide ban renewed by court
Date: Tue, 22 Jun 93 14:25:11 PDT

	LANSING, Mich. (UPI) -- Michigan's law outlawing assisted suicide --
aimed at stopping ``Doctor Death'' Jack Kevorkian from helping terminal
and chronically ill patients end their lives -- has been reinstated by an
appeals court.
	In a brief order Tuesday, the Michigan Court of Appeals placed a stay
on the May 24 ruling by Wayne County Circuit Court Cynthia Stephens
dissolving the law on technical grounds.
	The American Civil Liberties Union, doctors and two patients with
potentially fatal illnesses were among those challenging the law on the
grounds it violates privacy rights.
	The appeals panel split 2-1 in the decision to reinstate the law
while it waits to hear arguments and make a decision on the issue.
	``We are disappointed that while the Court of Appeals considers the
merits of Judge Stephens decision, it chose to suspend the rights of
competent adults who are suffering from a terminal illness,'' ACLU-
Michigan Executive Director Howard Simon said. ``The court owes to all
those who want the right to control their lives to resolve this appeal
as quickly as possible.''
	Stephens ruled that the temporary two-year assisted suicide ban is
illegal because it was combined with the creation of a panel to examine
the issue in the mean time. Her ruling was not on the privacy issue
although she wrote in the legal opinion that the privacy arguments were
convincing.
	The law was approved last year by the Michigan Legislature as a means
of stopping Kevorkian, a retired Detroit-area pathologist, from helping
any more patients die in the practice he calls ``medicide.'' He has
aided 16 people with terminal or chronic illnesses in committing
suicide.
    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Court rules parishioners in contempt for occupying church
Date: Wed, 23 Jun 93 9:23:08 PDT

	WORCESTER, Mass. (UPI) -- A judge Wednesday said parishioners
occupying a Roman Catholic church in Worcester, Mass., despite court
orders to vacate are in contempt and ordered them arrested.
	At midday, however, police had not yet moved in to evict the two-
dozen defiant parishioners who vowed not to leave voluntarily.
	Although police had arrest orders, they were told to give the
parishioners an opportunity to voluntarily leave the decaying St.
Joseph's Church, which the Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester wants
torn down because of safety concerns.
	The parishioners inside want their church repaired and kept open.
	Hundreds of people waited outside, some praying.
	Workmen on Tuesday changed the locks and put plywood over the
stained-glass windows.
	The protesters, who have occupied the church for more than a year,
have vowed not to leave until Bishop Timothy Harrington agrees to
rescind an order to close the building.
	Earlier this month, a Massachusetts Superior Court judge sided with
Harrington, ruling that the church was unsafe and ordered the protesters
out. State Appeals Court Judge Gerald Gillerman last week upheld the
ruling, but the occupation has continued.
	An attorney for the diocese has filed a motion in Worcester Superior
Court to have the parishioners charged with contempt of court. A hearing
on the contempt charges was held Wednesday morning.
	The round-the-clock vigil began in May 1992 when Harrington ordered
the 67-year-old church closed because of structural problems.
	Hundreds of parishioners filled the church Sunday for a prayer
service led by the Save St. Joseph's Committee, but a spokesman for the
diocese, Father John Barrett, said Tuesday police were no longer letting
people into the building.
	Harrington has not held a mass in the church since he ordered it
closed, and reassigned the pastor to another church. He has agreed to
keep St. Joseph's open if parishoners can raise the estimated $1 million
needed for repairs, but has said the protesters must leave first.
    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Vatican blames permissive society for priestly sex abuses
Date: Wed, 23 Jun 93 10:53:03 PDT

	VATICAN CITY (UPI) -- The Vatican said Wednesday that an 
``irresponsibly permissive'' society may be mainly to blame for the
recent spate of child sex abuse cases involving American priests.
	The chief Vatican spokesman, Joaquin Navarro Valls, made the charge
in commenting on a letter sent by Pope John Paul II to U.S. Catholic
bishops about what he called ``certain cases of scandal given by members
of the clergy.''
	The American Bishops' Conference published the letter Monday.
	``One must ask oneself if, in this case, the principal defendant may
not be an irresponsibly permissive society, hyper-inflated with
sexuality, (which is) capable of inducing to grave immoral acts persons
who have for years received solid moral training and an education in
virtue,'' Navarro told reporters.
	In his letter to the bishops, written June 11, the pope deplored the
sensationalist treatment given by the mass media to the cases of
Americans who have complained of being sexually abused by priests when
they were boys.
	The Vatican spokesman also stressed this aspect, saying it is not
acceptable ``that moral evil be used as an occasion for sensationalism.''
	He said some statistics on the extent of priestly sex abuse published
in the American press were simply ``not true.''
	``The known cases are 400,'' Navarro said. ``That is 1.2 percent of
the total number of priests in the United States.''
	He said that to extend the blame to the American priesthood as a
whole would be ``a grave injustice to the 98-99 percent of American
priests who are not involved.''
	The pope's letter was prompted by an informal request by U.S. bishops
for the Vatican to permit local bishops to ``unfrock'' priests guilty of
such sexual abuse. Press reports said the main reason for the American
bishops request was to cut short civil damages claims against the
Catholic Church by victims of the offending priests.
	But the Vatican so far has declined to give up its prerogative in the
matter of reducing priests to the laity. Instead the pope's letter
disclosed that a joint committee of experts from the Holy See and the U.
S. Bishops Conference has been set up to study the question.
	``This whole sad question must be placed in a context which is not
exclusively human -- it must be freed from being considered commonplace,''
John Paul said in his letter.
	He urged the bishops and their priests to respond to the problem 
``with all the means at your disposal.
	``Among these means, the first and most important is prayer: ardent,
humble, confident prayer,'' the pope said. ``Yes, dear brothers, America
needs much prayer -- lest it lose its soul.''


    

                     _World Has Gone Crazy_

     John Smith & God's Squad Tour of Northwest Tasmania.

     John Smith:  leather boots, colloquial  language,  grim
     message.    You  may  have  heard  him  on  the  radio,
     exploring lyrics from modern-day songs and asking, "Can
     you work it out?"

     Paster John Smith, leader of Australia's  God's  Squad,
     believes  the  world  has  gone  crazy.  The reason, he
     says, is that we have intellectualism without  meaning.
     We have materialism but no values.

     When he spoke for more than an  hour  to  more  than  a
     hundred  parents  at  Hellyer  College  (as part of his
     lecture tour of the North-West Coast) the audience  was
     captivated.

     John Smith is confrontationist, he is challenging.   He
     says  things  that  parents don't like to hear, bu they
     like to hear him.  He's religious but he  gets  through
     to  those  who aren't.  He rides a motor cycle, wears a
     beard,  but  the  conservative  respect  him.   He   is
     intellectual, but he is down-to-earth.

     "I don't think I belong in this generation,"  he  says.
     "I don't understand how society can be so sick."

     John Smith says that the Western world has got  carried
     away with individual rights:  "We hold the right of the
     individual in  such  high  esteem,  but  it  cannot  be
     unrelated to the survival of the whole tribe."

     He says materialism has failed, but  it's  business  as
     usual:   "We  give kids every material thing they want,
     but they're not happy.  They're saying, 'Please tell me
     who I am'."

     The kids are being told who  they  are  and  what  they
     should  be,  he  says,  by  magazines  full of "puerile
     rubbish."

     "These magazines seem to be written by adults  with  an
     adolescent fixation on their own genitals," he said.

     John Smith looks tired.  But none  of  the  passion  is
     lost.  He is angry.  He wants to stir.

     "I can't believe that you can go and get married,  just
     like  that," he says, clicking his fingers.  "Just like
     that.   You  can  create  kids   without   having   any
     background,  any qualifications.  To ride a motor cycle
     you have to do  tests.   To  have  a  career  you  need
     qualifications.    Yet   when  it  comes  to  the  most
     important decisions in your life, you can  just  do  it
     just like that.

     "Why doesn't the church and state  teach  kids  how  to
     choose a partner?"

     The move from the religious to the secular has left  us
     without anything to base our relationships on, he says.
     And this has been our undoing.

     "The scripture is right ...  What will it profit a  man
     to gain the world and lose his soul?

     "We need sustainable family units, we need to care,  we
     need to talk, we need to believe."

     John Smith says that until something is done about  it,
     all  the  social  working,  all  the money in the world
     won't help.

     "Our belief system is failing us," he says.  "The  kids
     have  got  problems  today because the parents have got
     problems.

     "The least suicidal age is 12-19 years old.   Not  many
     people  realise  that.  Statistics show that suicide in
     the 20-29 age group and 30-39 is double that of  teens.
     It  is  a  generational problem.  It's not the economy,
     that's not what's causing it, our  world  view  is  not
     sustaining us.

     "The breakdown of youth, the suicide, violence,  drugs,
     alcohol, weight fanaticism has little to do with social
     and economic issues, it's in their  heads.   They  have
     been  given  no  meaning, no values, no identity.  They
     feel so insignificant."

     [Article by Rachael Bufton,  Examiner,  May  15,  1993,
     Copied  without  permission  from  Care & Communication
     Concern,  June  1993,  published  by   John   Smith   &
     Associates  -  Care  & Communication Concern Inc., P.O.
     Box 463, Boronia Vic.  3155.   Australia  Ph  (03)  761
     1400 Fax (03) 762 2412]
    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Parishioners, facing arrest, end 13-month church occupation
Date: Wed, 23 Jun 93 18:07:34 PDT

	WORCESTER, Mass. (UPI) -- Parishioners who occupied a Roman Catholic
church for more than a year to keep it from being closed by their bishop
left peacefully Wednesday after a judge told police to arrest anyone who
remained inside.
	Hundreds of other worshippers and supporters waiting in front of St.
Joseph's Church cheered as the 25 protesters filed out of the building
under a police escort.
	The contempt of court citation was handed down by a Superior Court
judge one week after the state Appeals Court upheld Bishop Timothy
Harrington's right to close the 67-year-old church for safety reasons.
	Harrington contends the church cannot afford the estimated $1 million
it would cost to repair St. Joseph's.
	There has been speculation that the church planned to demolish St.
Joseph's and sell the land in downtown Worcester to developers, but the
bishop recently agreed to keep the building open if parishioners could
raise the necessary funds to restore it.
	``I can understand the hurt and the anger of the parishioners who
have been occupying St. Joseph's Church,'' Harrington said after the
occupation ended. ``However, I had to close the church for the safety of
the people.''
	The Massachusetts Supreme Court must still rule on a suit filed by
the protesters to have ownership of St. Joseph's taken from the Diocese
of Worcester and turned over to the congregation. A decision is expected
sometime this fall.
	The pending case has put any plans to demolish the building on hold.
	The Save St. Joseph's Committee, which organized the occupation, has
reportedly raised nearly $650,000 to have make the repairs if the
state's high court rules in the parishioners' favor.
	The round-the-clock vigil began in May 1992 when Harrington first
ordered St. Joseph's closed because of structural problems. The protest
has divided the congregation, with many parishioners supporting the
bishop's decision and others backing the occupation.
	Workmen changed the locks and put plywood over the stained-glass
windows Tuesday in anticipation of Wednesday's eviction order.
	Harrington has not held a mass in the church since he ordered it
closed, but hundreds of worshippers filled the church last Sunday for a
final prayer service.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: China acknowledges Pope request to visit
Date: Thu, 24 Jun 93 3:31:24 PDT

	BEIJING (UPI) -- China Thursday appeared to snub a request by Pope
John Paul II to pay a visit to China, refusing to budge on its long-
standing diplomatic impasse with the Vatican.
	China and the Vatican broke relations in the early 1950s after China
nationalized the Chinese Catholic church network, and the two sides have
been unable to reach agreement on who should control the Catholic
movement in China.
	Earlier this week, however, the pope appeared to hold an olive branch
out to China, expressing a desire to visit China in the near future.
	Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Fan Huijuan said at a weekly news
conference that China had seen the pope's statement, and despite
repeated questions refused to comment on China's position on a papal
visit.
	``We have taken note of this news,'' she said curtly.
	She added that China had not changed its stance on the diplomatic
impasse.
	``Chinese policy towards the Vatican is consistent and clear,'' she
said.
	During the last 40 years of communist rule on the mainland an
underground Catholic church with ties to Rome has continued to operate
despite the constant threat of arrest and crackdowns by Chinese
authorities.
	According to international human rights watchdog groups, China has
continued its policy of arrests and beatings of Roman Catholic priests
and lay members.
	While Beijing has released many Catholics in detention during the
past year, some before their sentences were up, at least a dozen
arrested in 1990 and 1991 remain in police custody.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Israel snubs Dalai Lama to avoid offending China
Date: Thu, 24 Jun 93 11:13:50 PDT

	JERUSALEM (UPI) -- Worried about its budding relationship with
Beijing, Israeli officials Thursday snubbed the dalai lama, saying the
exiled leader of Tibet would be treated as a tourist rather than
accorded an official welcome during a visit early next year.
	Diplomatic sources interviewed by the Ha'aretz daily newspaper said
the dalai lama could visit as a pilgrim but could not meet with the
prime minister and other top officials.
	Israeli leaders rejected the Dalai Lama's request to be honored as an
official visitor and meet with them when he visits early next year on
the grounds that this would harm relations with China, Ha'aretz said.
Tibet has been a province of China since 1950 when Chinese troops
invaded the South Asian country.
	Israel and China exchanged military attaches this week, opening
military ties between the two countries.
	Col. Xu Lin Gen began work this week after he was welcomed by the
Chinese ambassador to Israel and the Israeli army's deputy chief of
staff at a festive reception in Tel Aviv to mark the opening of the new
Chinese mission, according to published reports.
	Israel will reportedly send a lieutenant colonel from the Israeli
navy to fill the spot in Beijing. The attaches will function as liasons
between the Israeli and Chinese armies.
	Israel's Lt. Col. Moshe Fogel said the establishment of military
attaches is a routine part of the normalization of ties between
countries, but he refused to confirm Xu's installation or reports that
Israel has simultaneously sent an attache to serve in China.
	Xu's wife, Yu Yaniing Lin, reached by United Press International by
telephone, said she and her husband arrived in May and set up an office
in their Tel Aviv home.
	Israel established formal relations with China in 1992, ending
decades of hostility.
	Despite traditional military links with several Arab countries and
Iran, China has over the last few years stepped up relations with Israel
in areas such as trade, science and technology, and has for years bought
advanced defense technology from Israel in a secret arrangement.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Mexican Catholic Church takes stand against drugs
Date: Thu, 24 Jun 93 17:45:54 PDT

	MEXICO CITY (UPI) -- A document signed by Roman Catholic bishops and
published in a major daily newspaper Thursday accused top public and
military officials in Mexico of collusion with drug traffickers.
	A pastoral document on Violence and Peace, signed by four bishops and
an archbishop and published in the Mexico City newspaper Excelsior, said
drug traffickers ``have bought or associated themselves with an
important number of public and military officials'' to make their
illicit business easier at every stage.
	``With their money, the drug traffickers think they can buy
everything, and often they achieve this,'' document said.
	The document, the strongest attack to date by the Mexican Episcopate
on narcotics dealers, said ``the drug trafficking mafia, before killing
the body, has killed the souls of a great number of men.''
	``They take advantage of the ignorance and the extreme misery of our
rural inhabitants to cultivate drugs, because it is more profitable than
traditional crops,'' the seven-page document said.
	``Many who refuse to be associated with these 'new farmers' are
uprooted from their place of origin for their own safety and that of
their families,'' it said.
	Bishop Manuel Talamas, in a separate statement, called on authorities
to clear up the death of Guadalajara Archbishop Juan Jesus Posadas
Ocampo, gunned down May 24 at the Guadalajara airport during a shootout
between rival drug gangs.
	The government has maintained that the cardinal was killed when
gunmen hired by Tijuana druglords to kill rival trafficker Joaquin
Guzman, known as ``El Chapo,'' confused the prelate with their intended
target.
	Talamas called on authorities ``to abstain from giving hurried
explanations regarding the murder of Posadas Ocampo, particularly since
across the country, credibility in the administration of justice is low,
not to say almost nil.''
	Guzman, arrested two weeks ago in Guatemala, corroborated the
government's version of events, but Talamas said not all clergymen were
satisfied with the progress made in the investigations that have netted
more than 20 alleged drug dealers and corrupt police officials.
	The pastoral document also drew attention to the problem of drug
consumption -- particularly in industrialized countries -- a question
habitually raised by authorities in countries fighting wars against drug
production and traffic.
	``We should not forget that a product without a market is worthless
and while there is a market here or in any other part of the world there
will be drug production,'' the document said.
	The prelates also questioned the church's own role in attacking the
drug problem, wondering ``if we have not remained silent many times
faced with the injustice or attempts against life.''


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Priest accused of child sexual abuse wants change of venue for trial
Date: Sat, 26 Jun 93 7:56:32 PDT

	DALLAS (UPI) -- A Roman Catholic priest, denying allegations of child
sexual abuse, has sought a jury trial in San Antonio on grounds he
cannot get a fair hearing in the Dallas area.
	Court documents filed this week by the attorney for the Rev. Rudolph
Kos said, ``There is a combination against (Kos) instigated by
influential persons in Dallas County, by reason of which (he) cannot
expect to receive a fair and impartial trial.''
	In his affidavit, Kos confirmed he is living at the Servants of the
Paraclete clergy treatment center in Jemez Springs, N.M., where he was
sent last fall after diocesan officials said they learned of the sexual
abuse allegations. Priro to that he was pastor of St. John Nepomucene
Catholic Church in Ennis, south of Dallas.
	The allegations surfaced in May after two young men sued Kos and the
diocese in a state district court. The civil suit accused the priest of
sexually abusing the plaintiffs when they were minors. The suit accused
the diocese of negligence for not removing Kos sooner.
	The diocese maintains that it acted responsibly and had begun
investigating Kos several months before the suit was filed.
	The suit also charged that the diocese deceived parishioners in Ennis
about why their priest had been removed.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Salvadoran church official killed in apparent robbery attempt
Date: Sat, 26 Jun 93 12:00:57 PDT

	SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (UPI) -- The Roman Catholic chaplain for El
Salvador's armed forces was killed by an apparent group of highway
robbers, a military spokesman said Saturday.
	Monsignor Joaquin Ramos, 57, died late Friday from three gunshot
wounds as he was driving on the highway from the El Salvador Airport,
which is located south of San Salvador, into the capital, the spokesman
said.
	The spokesman said the Roman Catholic official, who was driving with
two others, was surprised by a group of unknown people who had set up a
roadblock 11 miles south of the city to rob vehicles using the highway.
	``We think that Monsignor Ramos did not stop at the location and that
for this, the individuals that set up the roadblock shot him,'' the
spokesman said.
	Ramos died at the Military Hospital in San Salvador, the spokesman
said. The two others, who have not been identified, were also taken to
the hospital, but the spokesman did not reveal their conditions.
	Ramos had just returned to El Salvador from Costa Rica, where he had
been handling some religious business.
	Robberies on the highway to San Salvador from the airport have
increased since the end of El Salvador's civil war last year. Military
officials say some thieves follow cars on the road that are loaded with
luggage to the drivers' residences, then rob the drivers.
	The remains of Ramos, who had been military chaplain since 1980, will
be buried in a ceremony Sunday, the military spokesman said.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Catholics in Mexico protest investigation into cardinal shooting
Date: Sat, 26 Jun 93 15:23:41 PDT

	MEXICO CITY (UPI) -- Some 2,000 people marched in the streets of the
Mexican capital Saturday to mark one month since the shootout that
killed a Roman Catholic cardinal and to protest against the
investigation into the case.
	Francisco Gonzalez Garza, president of the National Union of Fathers
of Families, said the aim of the peaceful march was to demand ``more
objective information'' from the government on the incident.
	``Catholics will not stop protesting as long as there isn't objective
information,'' said Gonzalez, the march leader. ``We are not convinced
by the official declarations, and we Catholics...in Mexico represent the
majority of the population.''
	Cardinal Juan Jesus Posadas Ocampo, four other bystanders and two
suspected drug traffickers were killed May 24 in a shootout between two
alleged drug gangs at the airport in Guadalajara, 300 miles (480 km)
northwest of the capital.
	The incident has uncovered several cases of alleged corruption of
police officials by suspected drug traffickers and generated anger from
some Mexicans who question the official explanation of Posadas Ocampo's
dJEth.
	The gover1/4Unt says Posadas Ocampo was killed after gunmen from one
drug gang mistook him for Joaquin ``El Chapo'' Guzman, the leader of a
rival drug gang, but there have been inconsistencies in the official
explanaZ!fn.
	``No one is explaining how 'El Chapo' Guzman, who was the target of
the drug traffickers' actions, left the Guadalajara airport alive while
in exchange, the cardinal was murdered,'' said Gonzalez.
	The cases of alleged police cooperation with drug traffickers, too,
have raised the ire of many.
	A student at La Salle University in Mexico City participating in the
march said the shooting underscored the power drug traffickers have in
Mexico.
	``If not for this lamentable incident, corruption would now be
customary,'' he said. ``But now we are showing our pain and confirming
that we don't consider the official version...given by the Mexican
government very credible.''
	Ad3/4tatement published Thursday by four Catholic bishops and an
archibishop vKid drug traffickers ``have bought or associated themselves
with an important number of public and military officials.''
	``With their money, the drug traffickers think they can buy
everything, and often they achieve this,'' the statement said.
	Saturday's demonstration, called the Pilgrimmage of Silence, covered
two miles in Mexico City and ended with a mass at the Basilica of
Guadalupe. An estimated 2,000 people, including several Catholic
congregations, political groups and Mexico City bishops, participated in
the march.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Christian prayer line kicks off
Date: Sun, 27 Jun 93 17:59:28 PDT

	JERUSALEM (UPI) -- A Christian telephone service opened Sunday with
endorsements from Ronald Reagan, Jerry Falwell and other celebrities
that will allow the faithful around the world to reach out and touch
Jerusalem.
	Reagan and televangelists Falwell, Billy Graham and Pat Robertson
were among a host of public figures from eight different countries who
sent videotaped or just telephoned greetings to the prayer line's
opening ceremonies at the Hyatt Regency Hotel.
	The line kicked off with a prayer for peace in Jerusalem and had
taken about 50 calls by late Sunday afternoon, said Lee Brooks, director
of the line, which is sponsored by the Jerusalem Christian Review
newspaper and Bezeq Telecommunications, Israel's national telephone
company.
	For a fee of $1.99 per minute, international callers can speak to a
local Christian volunteer, who will listen to their problems and pray
with them for a solution. Organizers say 10 to 15 operators will field
calls on 50 phone lines. They expect up to 100,000 calls the first
month.
                               ------
	The phone number from the United States is 1-900-4-HOLYLAND.
Elsewhere the number is 9722-323232
    
    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Lawyer seeks to suppress interview with accused child molester
Date: Mon, 28 Jun 93 5:08:43 PDT

	BOSTON (UPI) -- A lawyer for accused child molester James Porter
Monday planned to ask that a prosecution interview with the former
priest be suppressed as evidence at his upcoming trial in Massachusetts.
	The former priest is accused in Massachusetts of molesting dozens of
children while he served in parishes in southeastern Massachusetts in
the 1960s.
	Attorney Peter G. DeGelleke said the interview was conducted in 1992
at Porter's home in Minnesota by Bristol County prosecutors at a time
when Porter's defense attorney was not available.
	The lawyer said his client claims he was tricked into speaking with
the prosecutors, and wants that interview kept out of Porter's upcoming
trial.
	DeGelleke said that during the interview, ``the allegations in
Massachusetts are discussed, basically parts of the police reports are
read to Mr. Porter and he makes various types of responses.''
	Porter was to appear Monday at the pre-trial hearing in Suffolk
Superior Court in Boston.
	Porter, 57, was released last month after serving six months in a
Minnesota jail for molesting his children's teenage baby sitter in 1987.
	He was indicted last year on 46 counts of sexually molesting 33
children between April 1960 and August 1967, when he left Massachusetts.
A Massachusetts court in February upheld 41 of those indictments.
	Porter, who left the priesthood in 1973, has also been named in civil
suits in New Mexico and Minnesota, as well as in Massachusetts.
	He was convicted in December in Minnesota of molesting the baby
sitter in 1987 in the St. Paul suburb of Oakdale, where he lived with
his wife and four children.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Baby bleeds to death after circumcision
Date: Sat, 26 Jun 93 6:01:29 PDT

	MIAMI (UPI) -- A 6-month-old baby bled to death after he was
circumcised by a Miami pediatrician, and medical examiners are trying to
determine what went wrong.
	``This is certainly weird, unusual,'' said Charles Wetli, Dade
County's deputy chief medical examiner. ``I've done close to 6,000
autopsies and this is the first I've ever seen where a baby died from a
circumcision. It's probably about the safest procedure you could think
of.''
	Louise Manker took her son Demetrius to Dr. Robert D. Young's office
to be circumcised Monday. Young said the circumcision had gone well.
	``I would not have let him go home if I didn't think so,'' Young
said.
	After Manker took the baby home, she saw he was bleeding from the
incision. She called the doctor several times and a hospital once,
according to her attorney, Patrick Cordero.
	``She followed the doctor's instructions to the letter. Once of the
instructions was that she put Vaseline around the penis area to stop the
bleeding,'' Cordero said.
	On Wednesday, Louise Manker's sister was baby-sitting Demetrius and
grew so alarmed by his continued bleeding that she called paramedics,
Cordero said.
	The baby was pronounced dead at the hospital. An autopsy showed he
had lost so much blood that his liver and other organs had gone pale,
Wetli said.
	The autopsy revealed a seemingly normal circumcision, he said.
Authorities were still trying to determine whether the baby suffered
some rare disease that prevented his blood from coagulating.
	Wetli said it was also possible that Manker did not understand or
explain to doctors the extent of the bleeding, especially because a baby
has only a fraction of an adult's blood supply.
    
********************************************************************************

    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Bennett urges Right to Life to open ranks
Date: Fri, 25 Jun 93 12:45:12 PDT

	MILWAUKEE (UPI) -- The national Right to Life Movement needs to open
its ranks to people who favor abortion restrictions but may not totally
embrace the group's agenda, former U.S. Education Secretary William
Bennett said Friday.
	Bennett told the organization's national convention that it can be
strengthened by admitting people who do not oppose all forms of
abortion.
	The majority of Americans favor some type of restrictions on
abortion, he said, and once they understand that the Freedom of Choice
Act being considered in Congress would allow abortion with no
restrictions, they will oppose it.
	Once ``a decent and conscious people'' realize that 1.7 million
abortions in the United States is unconcionable, a dent can be made in
abortion, Bennett said.
	``Embrace those who are concerned about the number of abortions, even
if they are not fully committed to the pro-life agenda,'' Bennett said.
``Invite them in. Make them allies.''
	The convention, attended by about 1,700, continues Saturday.
********************************************************************************

    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Judge urges compromise in Ga. school ban on distributing religious newspaper
Date: Sat, 26 Jun 93 9:51:31 PDT

	DECATUR, Ga. (UPI) -- A superior court judge in DeKalb County, Ga.,
Friday urged both sides in a lawsuit filed by a high school student
banned from distributing a religious newspaper on campus to seek a
compromise.
	The suit was filed by Scott D. Ingram, who will be a senior this fall
at Shamrock High School.
	The DeKalb County School Board amended its policies to prevent Ingram
from distributing ``Issues and Answers,'' a Christian newspaper, after
barring him from distributing the paper on the high school campus in
1990 and 1991.
	James Henderson, one of three attorneys from the American Center for
Law and Justice in Washington, D.C., representing Ingram, argued before
Judge Clarence F. Seeliger that the ban is unconstitutional.
	School board attorney Curtis Mack argued that federal court precedent
allows the board to implement what he termed ``reasonable'' regulations.
	Seeliger said he would probably not rule on the case for at least a
month.
	Attorneys representing both sides in the case indicated they would
consider Seeliger's recommendation and pursue an out-of-court settlement
before the judge issues a ruling.

    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Souter refuses to stay order banning student-led prayer
Date: Mon, 28 Jun 93 10:57:22 PDT

	WASHINGTON (UPI) -- A New Jersey high school lost out on its attempt
to have student-led prayer at its graduation ceremonies Monday.
	But the issue of student-led prayer -- as opposed to officials
organizing a prayer -- has yet to be decided on the Supreme Court level.
	Justice David Souter refused the request of a New Jersey school
district, which wanted the court's relief at the last minute on the
issue of student-led prayer.
	The school district wanted a stay on an injunction from the 3rd U.S.
Court of Appeals in Philadelphia, which said the Supreme Court decision
two years ago banned ``any'' prayer in public school settings.
	The circuit court order was in response to a complaint from the
American Civil Liberties Union.
	The request for a stay by the Blackhorse Pike Regional Board of
Education and Highland Regional High School cut it close. Graduation
ceremonies were scheduled for 6 p.m. (EDT).
	The 3rd Circuit order banning the prayer represented a major split
with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. That federal court, in a
case arising out of Clear Creek, Texas, said student-led prayer is
constitutional, as opposed to prayer organized by a school.
	Earlier this spring the Supreme Court let that 5th Circuit ruling
stand, but did not rule itself on student-led prayer.
	Meanwhile, the association representing the nation's school districts
said the Supreme Court refusal to issue a decision on student-led prayer
was causing confusion.
	The group said teams from a group founded by religious broadcaster
Pat Robertson, the American Center for Law and Justice, are telling
school districts that student-led prayer is legal, based on the 5th
Circuit ruling.
	But the ACLU has countered by threatening to sue any district that
acts on that advice.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Priest seeks to suppress evidence in child molest case
Date: Mon, 28 Jun 93 9:34:55 PDT

	BOSTON (UPI) -- Accused child molester James Porter appeared in a
Boston court Monday for a pre-trial hearing as a number of the former
priest's alleged victims glared at him.
	Porter and his attorney are trying to convince the court to suppress
evidence prosecutors want to use at his upcoming trial for molesting
dozens of children when he served in parishes in southeastern
Massachusetts in the 1960s.
	A group of his alleged victims showed up before the session in an
attempt to confront the former Roman Catholic priest as he was lead into
the Suffolk Superior Court building. Porter made no comments to the
crowd.
	Porter's wife, Verlyne, was the first to take the stand as attorney
Peter G. DeGelleke tried to build a case to have a videotaped interview
with police thrown out.
	In the interview with Bristol County investigators, taped in May 1992
in Minnesota, Porter reportedly admitted to molesting children in
Massachusetts. His attorney at the time was not present during the
interview, which DeGelleke said was given under duress.
	Porter's wife said investigators convinced Porter to go to a local
Minnesota police station for the interview by claiming the media was on
its way to the house, and that Porter was nervous because of being
besieged by the media.
	``He was under pressure,'' his wife said. ``He said 'Let me get out
of here because I don't want the media here.'''
	The hearing was in preparation for Porter's upcoming trial for
allegedly molesting 33 children in Massachusetts. He is facing trial on
a 41-count indictment.
	Porter, 57, was released last month after serving six months in a
Minnesota jail for molesting his children's teenage baby sitter in 1987.
	He was indicted last year on 46 counts of sexually molesting 33
children between April 1960 and August 1967, when he left Massachusetts.
A Massachusetts court in February upheld 41 of those indictments.
	Porter, who left the priesthood in 1973, has also been named in civil
suits in New Mexico and Minnesota, as well as in Massachusetts.
	He was convicted in December in Minnesota of molesting the baby
sitter in 1987 in the St. Paul suburb of Oakdale, where he lived with
his wife and four children.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: ACLU, Jewish group sue over jail ``God Pod''
Date: Mon, 28 Jun 93 11:59:00 PDT

	FORT WORTH, Texas (UPI) - The American Civil Liberties Union and the
American Jewish Congress filed a lawsuit Monday alleging that the so-
called ``God Pod,'' a Christian unit in the Tarrant County Jail, is
unconstitutional.
	The lawsuit claims that the special unit is inconsistent with the
notion of separation of church and state, and gives preferential
treatment to Christian inmates and does not accomodate practitioners of
other religions.
	Donald Jackson, president of the Fort Worth ACLU chapter, said his
group and the Jewish congress have worked for one year to settle the
dispute in an effort to avoid legal action but has been unable to reach
an agreement.
	Texas ACLU Executive Director Jay Jacobson said, ``The 'God Pod'
represents a classic example of the denial of an individual's right to
free exercise of religion.''
	The suit was filed on behalf of two inmates -- one who is Jewish and
another who is a Jehovah's Witness -- and Dr. Ronald Flowers, a Christian
Church minister who objects to the use of public resources to promote
religion.
	Reading material in the Christian unit, the suit said, lists the
Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormonism, Unity and Unitarianism in the ``cult
non-Christian spiritual experience inventory. Indexed under ''other
religions`` to be renounced by one who wishes to become a Christian, the
suit said, are Islam, Black Muslim, Hinduism and Zen Buddhism.
	Sheriff David Williams, the primary defendant in the lawsuit, and
other Tarrant County officials were not immediately available for
comment.


    

From: [email protected] (BEN LYNFIELD)
Subject: Sage's wrath heats up Israeli corruption scandal
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 93 5:05:59 PDT

	JERUSALEM (UPI) -- A corruption scandal that jarred Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin's fragile coalition government earlier this month appeared
to be heating up Wednesday after a religious leader wished an early
death to opponents of Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, head of the ultra-
orthodox Shas party.
	``The minister is right and honest and with God's help, his
righteousness will come to light,'' said rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the party's
spiritual guide ``May it be the lord's will that his enemies and
pursuers be put to shame and be dumbfounded and bewildered and that they
not attain middle age.''
	``They should die at a young age,'' rabbi Yosef said.
	The remarks, quoted on the front page of the Ha'aretz daily
newspaper, came during a Tel Aviv rally by loyalists of Shas, a key
partner in Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's center-left coaltion.
Attorney-General Yosef Harish informed Deri ten days ago that he would
be charged with fraud, bribery and breach of trust after a three-year
police investigation.
	Rabin considers the party to be essential in providing a religious
stamp of approval to peace arrangements with the Palestinians and
neighboring Arab countries.
	Rafael Eitan, secularist leader of the hard-line Tsomet party, said
he would file a motion for a debate in Israel's parliament, the Knesset,
over the remarks, saying they could inspire violence by Shas loyalists.
	``It could be that there will be hotheads who will carry out these
things in an extremist fashion,'' Eitan told Israel Radio. ``These
things are liable to be interpreted as a divine commandment to action.''
	Ran Cohen, a deputy from the left-wing Meretz party, called on Harish
to check whether Yosef's remarks constituted ``incitement'' against the
judiciary and public figures.
	Shas is not known for using violence to advance its aims and the
statements appeared to reflect rabbi Yosef's agitation over the
impending proceedings against Deri, 34, a protege who has often likened
him to a father. Most of the charges against Deri center on misuse of
taxpayer funds for private purposes and using illegal means to build up
a vast Shas patronage network.
	Harish said this week he intends to submit a request to the Knesset
during July in a bid to strip Deri of his parliamentary immunity from
prosecution. The knesset would then have to vote on the matter.
	Shas gained six seats in last year's Knesset elections on a platform
aimed at empowering Sephardic Middle East Jews long resentful of
mistreatment at the hands of the predominantly European Jewish
leadership that dominates both major parties.
	Unlike most leading sages, rabbi Yosef has endorsed trading territory
for peace, ruling Israel can give back parts of its biblical heritage in
order to save lives.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Cross-burning case dismissed
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 93 6:07:13 PDT

	PITTSBURGH (UPI) -- Saying the state's hate crimes law is not specific
enough, a judge in Pittsburgh has dismissed a case against two men
accused of burning a cross in the yard of a biracial couple in Pitcairn.
	Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Robert Dauer ruled Tuesday, the
prosecution failed to prove its case. Dauer said Pennsylvania's 1982
Ethinic Intimidation Act, under which the defendants were charged, is
written poorly and does not include the proper legal structure for
cross-burning cases.
	Carlos Willett, 28, who is black, and his wife, Erving, 26, who is
white, said they were shocked by Dauer's decision, which occurred in the
middle of a jury trial.
	Dauer's decision means defendants Anthony Tominello, 19, and Brad
Kozak, 20, both of Pitcairn, are free and can't be charged again in the
crime.
	Tominello and Kozak were charged with ethnic intimidation, reckless
endangerment, criminal mischief and harassment.
    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Anti-abortion group plans nationwide protests
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 93 7:15:27 PDT

	MELBOURNE, Fla. (UPI) -- Leaders of the anti-abortion group Operation
Rescue are planning a series of demonstrations at cities nationwide from
July 9-18.
	Group leaders, who have been training anti-abortion activists in
Melbourne since January, said the protests will take place in central
Florida; San Jose, Calif.; Philadelphia, Cleveland, Minneapolis, Dallas,
and Jackson, Miss.
	Police in those cities said they will be ready in case trouble
develops.
	The group is calling the demonstration si`Cities of Refuge,'' a
Biblical term for the ancient cities where fleeing Israelites were
purportedly told by God that they could avoid bloodshed.
	``These cities will be focal points for the stopping of innocent
bloodshed, for stopping the abortions,'' said group leader Wendy Wright.
	Operation Rescue leaders would not say exactly what the
demonstrations would involve. Wright said there may be clinic blockades
or the protesters may only hand out material, conduct sidewalk
counseling and picket.
	One of the newer thrusts of Operation Rescue has been to target
clinic doctors and staff members. The tactic has become extremely scary
to doctors since the shooting death of physician David Gunn outside a
Pensacola abortion clinic in March.
	The seven cities were chosen because of their active anti-abortion
communities and central locations, Wright said.
	She said the organization does not plan to duplicate the protests
that led to more than 1,000 arrests in Wichita, Kan., two years ago.
********************************************************************************

    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: House approves Hyde amendment
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 93 12:33:43 PDT

	WASHINGTON (UPI) -- In the first major test of abortion sentiment in
the new Congress, the House voted Wednesday to retain the Hyde amendment
barring federal funding for abortions.
	The 255-178 vote came during one of the angriest sessions in recent
years as the House debated the 1994 appropriation bill for the
Department of Health and Human Services.
	The amendment finally adopted prohibits the use of Medicaid funds to
pay for abortions for poor women except to save the life of the mother
or in cases of rape or incest. The language, authored by Rep. Henry
Hyde, R-Ill., has been added to the HHS appropriation bill for the last
16 years.
	As drafted by the Appropriations Committee, the bill included the
amendment, but opponents managed to have the provision eliminated on a
point of order when the measure came up in the full House. Hyde's
supporters then prevailed on a procedural vote, 244-190, and he was
allowed to offer the amendment and it was adopted, 255-178.
	The debate was marked by bitter exchanges between several House
members, including Hyde and female members of the Congressional Black
Caucus.
    
    

From: [email protected] (SID BALMAN Jr.)
Subject: Israelis and Palestinians reject U.S. proposal
Date: Thu, 1 Jul 93 9:13:55 PDT

	WASHINGTON (UPI) -- Palestinians and Israelis, on the final day of
Middle East peace talks, Thursday rejected the first substantive
American proposal since the process began nearly two years ago.
	The long awaited document, presented to both delegations Wednesday,
was intended to break the stalemate over which occupied territories the
Palestinians would exert limited authority and the timing.
	The administration's ideas for East Jerusalem, the Muslim quarter of
the holy city that Palestinians want to control but which Israelis
refuse to relinquish, triggered a veritable firestorm of criticism from
both sides.
	Palestinian spokeswoman Hanan Ashrawi expressed ``intense
displeasure'' over the ``so-called American bridging proposals.''
	``The document is not suitable as a basis for negotiations,'' she
told United Press International. ``It violates the terms of reference,
violates U.N. Security Council resolutions, violates Palestinian human
rights and overturns U.S. policy since the era of (former) President
Carter.
	``It's an alarming change which widens gaps.''
	Although the Israelis indicated initially that the proposal was a
good basis for discussions, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin shot it down
Thursday.
	He said the Americans ``should stick to'' an Israelis proposal made
during a previous round in May, which delays any possible discussion of
East Jerusalem until a second phase of talks theoretically scheduled to
take place in several years.
	``Any changes to that document will not be received by us with great
sympathy but with disappointment,'' Rabin said.
	Portions of Rabin's comments were broadcast on Israeli Army radio.
	Although Middle East diplomats and U.S. officials participating in
the talks hesitated to divulge the document's entire contents, they
provided a glimpse into the proposals on East Jerusalem.
	They said it would allow Arabs living in East Jerusalem the right to
vote, but not run for office, in Israeli-proposed elections for a
Palestinian ruling council that will have limited powers over daily
life. Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip would be
allowed to vote and to run for office.
	Palestinians demand that their East Jerusalem bretheren have the
right to do both.
	They also want East Jerusalem to be designated as part of the
occupied territories, which would require that it be included in the
land-for-peace swap dictated by U.N. resolutions, but the American
proposal does not.
	It also says any issue may be raised during final status
negotiations, which are supposed to take place in three years, even East
Jerusalem.
	``This document denies Palestinians their national right,'' Ashrawi
said.
	Acceptance of the proposal will be a bitter pill for Palestinians to
swallow, but the seeds of Israeli discontent are less clear.
	Israeli leaders have refused to discuss East Jerusalem in the first
phase of talks, but indicated that it may be included during the second.
--
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From: [email protected] (GILES TREMLETT)
Subject: European countries set date for free circulation of people
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 93 17:40:24 PDT

	MADRID (UPI) -- The nine European Community countries who make up the
Group of Schengen Wednesday set December 1 as the day border controls
for EC citizens travelling between them should come down, ministers
meeting in Madrid said.
	``This is a major and irreversible step forward,'' said Spain's
secretary of state for European Affairs, Carlos Westendorp. ``The free
circulation of people will be a reality on December 1.''
	But in a joint declaration after the meeting, in which Westendorp
said France's worries about security, illegal immigration and drugs were
the major obstacles, the Schengen countries left one opt-out clause.
	``The final entry into vigor of the Schengen Accord depends on the
decision of the Executive Committee which should adopt it as soon as all
previous conditions are met,'' the declaration read.
	Among those conditions are the ratifications needed from each of the
nine member country's parliaments. France was elected to take over
presidency of the group for the next six months.
	French European Affairs Minister Alain Lamassoure referred to the
December 1 date as an ``objective''.
	Wednesday's resolution called on member states to continue working on
improvements to their external frontiers in the run up to December 1. 
``A series of prerequisites have been met fully,'' explained Westendorp.
``Others need more work. These are specifically problems to do with
drugs and the reinforcement of our external frontiers.''
	``The resolution takes into account the worries of all member states,
'' he said. ``We have reached a balance between the free circulation of
people and the security of members.''
	Lamassoure said France's approval of the resolution did not mean he
had changed his mind since, in April, he said his country would not take
down its border controls because other Schengen members did not have
enough controls.
	``Then the conditions for complying with the accord had not been met,
'' he said. ``Today we have seen that, thanks to the work of all
members, we have been able to advance to a stage we think is reasonable.
''
	He said that a report from the French Senate claiming that one of the
greatest threats to Schengen was that the Netherlands had become a 
``drugs supermarket'' was being dealt with through bilateral
negotiations between the two countries.
	Lamassoure said one of the priorities of the French presidency would
be to make sure the communal computer file that will be the base of
border controls across the Schengen area was ready by the Autumn.
	The Schengen Group includes all the EC countries except Britain,
Ireland and Denmark. Both Westendorp and Lamassoure said they hoped
these three countries - and any others which might join the EC - would
decide to join the group. The Schengen group has come to agreements with
over 100 countries outside the EC so that travellers entering the area
will need just one visa for all nine countries.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Muslim guerrillas attack SLA-Israeli position
Date: Fri, 2 Jul 93 5:04:27 PDT

	TYRE, Lebanon (UPI) -- Muslim guerrillas Friday attacked a joint
position of Israeli troops and their surrogate South Lebanon Army
militia in the border zone, triggering Israeli retaliatory shelling on
Shiite villages, security sources said.
	Soldiers of the Islamic Resistance Movement, the military arm of the
pro-Iranian Hezbollah, fired two Soviet-made Katyusha rockets against an
SLA-Israeli post in Rashaf in the central sector of Israel's self-
declared ``security zone,'' the sources said.
	The attack inflicted slight material damage, they said.
	In retaliation, Israeli artillery fired four 155mm rockets against
the Shiite villages of Haris and Tebnine at the other side of the fence,
they said.
	There was no word on casualties or damage.
	On Tuesday, two Islamic Resistance guerrillas and a 10-year-old boy
were killed, and four people, including an SLA militiaman, were wounded,
as Hezbollah fighters launched a series of attacks against SLA-Israeli
troops in southern Lebanon.
	Hezbollah, Israel's arch enemy, along with Palestinian and Lebanese
leftist groups, oppose the ongoing Middle East peace talks and are
pledged to combat the Jewish state until it withdraws from southern
Lebanon.
	Israel established the nine-mile ``security zone'' in 1985 in order
to protect its northern territories.


    

From: [email protected] (MICHAEL KIRKLAND)
Subject: Protection for religious speech in an often hostile world
Date: Thu, 1 Jul 93 11:44:37 PDT

 Supreme Court's 1992-93 term:

	WASHINGTON (UPI) -- The Supreme Court has recessed for the summer, but
the decisions it handed down over the past nine months may help shape
how Americans live for years to come.
	This court is passing into history -- and the justices who form it
will never be assembled again. Justice Byron White, a moderate
conservative, has retired. Federal circuit Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a
moderate liberal, has been nominated to take his place.
	The 1992-93 term will be remembered for several controversial themes.
Among them is the repeated protection of religious speech when it comes
into contact with the power of the state.
	In ``Lamb's Chapel,'' the justices unanimously ruled that religious
speech is protected, just like any other form of speech. They said a New
York public school could not deny access to a fundamentalist church
which wanted to show a film on ``family values'' in a classroom after
hours. The school granted access to civic groups for roughly the same
purposes.
	But in ``Zobrest,'' a sharply divided court overturned a circuit
court decision, ruling that an Arizona school district had to provide a
sign interpreter for a deaf student in a Catholic school.
	Following that decision, Americans United for Separation of Church
and State said ``for the first time in American history, tax dollars
will be used to subsidize a student's participation in worship services
and religious training.'' The services and training are part of the
paraochial school schedule.
	But Walter Weber, litigation counsel for the American Center for Law
and Justice (ACLJ), an organization founded by religious broadcaster Pat
Robertson to further the goals of the religious right in the courts,
said ``Zobrest could have gone either way. With White being gone, who
knows how that will come down?''
	White cast the deciding vote in the 5-4 decision.
	In ``Lukumi Babalu,'' a battle between an Afro-Caribbean religion --
Santeria -- and the Miami suburb of Hialeah, a unanimous court ruled that
a city could not discriminate against religious acts when it allowed the
same acts by secular groups.
	A Hialeah ordinance had in effect outlawed animal sacrifice for
religious purposes, but permitted the slaughter of animals for food,
sport or even pest control.
	For University of Virginia law professor A.E. ``Dick'' Howard, this
term has shown a court in conflict and transition.
	``This is not a term of innovation,'' Howard says. ``I'm struck by
the extent to which the court avoided significant issues...and the
disarray among the justices.''
	But Howard thinks the just-ended term saw the emergence of Souter as
a true power on the court.
	``Last year there was a lot of talk about the so-called 'centrist
block,''' Howard says. ``There's no evidence of it this term. (Justice
Anthony) Kennedy has consistently voted in lockstep'' with the hard-line
conservatives, Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas and Chief
Justice William Rehnquist.
	The ``centrist block'' was supposed to consist of Kennedy and Souter,
along with Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, John Paul Stevens and White. In
practice, however, White has often joined Scalia, Rehnquist and Thomas.
	But Howard sees an increasing role for Souter, with ``a pattern of
reflection and growth.'' Howard thinks Souter, who has sided often with
the moderates and liberals, is ``capable of having significant impact on
the court.''
	Another controversial area for the high court this term has been
minority rights.
	First the justices ruled 7-2 that white contractors had a right to
challenge a city's policy of setting aside a portion of municipal
contracts for minorities.
	Then in a 5-4 decision -- with White among the minority this time --
the court ruled that congressional districts cannot be formed along
strictly racial lines unless there's a ``compelling'' reason for doing
so.
	The Supreme Court ordered a federal district court to hear the
challenge of five white North Carolina voters, who are objecting to a
black-majority district that's 160 miles long and follows the Interstate
85 corridor.
	The ruling could generate challenge after challenge, mainly
throughout the South, to districts formed to give blacks and Hispanics
majorities.
	Another decision that angered minority rights advocates was the
court's allowing the Clinton administration to continue returning
Haitian refugees to their Caribbean home without hearings when they're
intercepted at sea.
	The ruling is an exception to a federal law -- buttressed by
international treaty -- that requires immigration officials to grant
hearings when immigrants are fleeing physical harm.
	But perhaps no series of decisions generated as much judicial anguish
as several rulings on the death penalty this past term -- all of them
connected to Texas' death row.
	The Supreme Court ruled for Texas in ``Graham'' and ``Johnson,'' two
death penalty appeals that were based on the youth of the men when they
killed. Their lawyers had argued that since Texas had changed the jury
instruction law in 1992 to allow sentencing panels to consider specific
``mitigating factors'' when they sentenced convicts to death, the pre-
1992 Graham and Johnson juries were not allowed to consider those
factors.
	But the high court turned down the ``Graham'' appeal on the grounds
that it would require new constitutional precedent. Souter, joined by
Justices Harry Blackmun, Stevens and O'Connor dissented.
	The high court also turned down ``Johnson'' in a 5-4 decision. Each
time, White provided the deciding vote.
	And finally, the court ruled 6-3 to allow the execution of Leonel
Torres Herrera in a case that brought international attention. Herrera
had been sentenced to death for killing two police officers in 1981.
	Strong circumstantial evidence pinned Herrera to the killings. One
officer identified Herrera as the assailant before he died. Herrera
pleaded guilty to killing the other officer.
	But Herrera later claimed that it was his dead brother who did the
killing, claimed he had witnesses to his late brother's confession to
the crime and appealed to the Supreme Court on the grounds that he was
innocent.
	An opinion delivered by Rehnquist said a ``claim of actual innocence''
did not entitle Herrera to an appeal. 
	This brought an incredulous dissent from Blackmun, joined by Souter
and Stevens in all but the concluding paragraph.
	That paragraph, UVA's Howard says, has ``all the passion of a
Thurgood Marshall.''
	Blackmun, the court's oldest member and current champion of
individual rights, wrote in part:
	``Of one thing, however, I am certain. Just as an execution without
adequate safeguards is unacceptable, so too is an execution when the
condemned prisoner can prove that he is innocent. The execution of a
person who can show that he is innocent comes perilously close to
murder.''
	Herrera was executed by lethal injection on May 12.


    

From: [email protected] (BEN LYNFIELD)
Subject: Two gunmen, hostage killed after attack on bus
Date: Thu, 1 Jul 93 13:49:47 PDT

	JERUSALEM (UPI) -- Two Arab gunmen went on a shooting rampage on an
Israeli bus Thursday morning, killing one passenger, then escaped by
hijacking an Israeli motorist, forcing her to drive to the occupied West
Bank where all three were slain in gunfire at a border checkpoint.
	The gunmen boarded the bus during the morning rush hour in the French
Hill neighborhood of Jerusalem and opened fire, wounding three people,
one who later died, and leaving behind several explosive devices. Then
they hijacked a motorist and forced her to drive them toward Bethlehem
in the occupied West Bank.
	The gunmen and their abducted driver were killed in gunfire at a
border checkpoint while trying to enter the territory. It was not clear
whether the Israeli woman was killed by the gunmen or by the Israeli
security forces who opened fire on her abductors. Police gave varying
accounts of the incident.
	Sharon Buchbut, a border policeman who manned the checkpoint, said
the Israeli woman who was shot had tried to signal to him as her vehicle
approached the soldiers.
	``The woman tried to signal something. She moved the steering wheel,''
he said. ``The man beside her fired a burst at the woman, injuring her
legs while the car was moving. The man threw then threw a grenade at me.
''
	``I yelled 'grenade' at the soldiers near me. We fired in the
direction of the car and hit the two terrorists, and it was the end of
the story,'' he said.
	The violence came on the final day of the 10th round of the
Washington peace talks after Israeli and Palestinian negotiators
received an American document aimed at narrowing their differences over
the status of Jerusalem and enabling agreement on a declaration of
principles to streamline their negotiations.
	Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin vowed this week never to relinquish
predominantly Arab East Jerusalem, which was captured during the 1967
war and then annexed. The Palestinians view East Jerusalem as the future
capital of the state they hope to create in the occupied territories.
	In an incident shortly after the attack, an Israeli opened fire on a
group of Arabs in the Sanhendria neighborhood of north Jerusalem. None
of the four was hit by gunshots, but they were teated at Hadassah
Hospital for light wounds incurred while fleeing, a hospital spokesman
said.
	It was not immediately clear whether the shooting was related to or
in retaliation for the attack on the bus. Authorities played down the
likelihood of any linkage between the two incidents and said the
identity of the Israeli was known and he would be detained for
questioning when he was located.
	Mainstream Palestinian leaders condemned the bus attack and said it
was carried out by opponents of the peace talks. Minister of Police
Moshe Shahal said ``if there is any message here it should be that there
is a need to reach an agreement immediately.''
	Shahal declined to say whether authorities had evidence to link the
gunmen to the Hamas Islamic Resistance Movement or other hard-line
Palestinian groups.
	``We can only say that the terrorists were young, in their 20's,'' he
said. They boarded a downtown bound bus during morning rush hour in the
north Jerusalem neighborhood of French Hill, opened fire and alighted
quickly, Shahal added.
	Israel Radio reported that one of the wounded passengers, a 22-year
old from the Gaza Strip, was on board to assist the gunmen, but police
said they could not confirm the report.
	The gunmen left a trail of six explosive devices in north and south
Jerusalem, including several on the bus and several that were found near
the Gilo checkpoint to Bethlehem where they were shot, police said.
	They lobbed two hand grenades towards security forces at the
checkpoint but the grenades failed to detonate, the police said.
	``They had massive killing potential which was for the most part
frustrated,'' said police official Rafi Peled.
	The three wounded in the bus attack included driver David Yom-Tov and
an Israeli woman, along with the Gazan. Doctors at Hadassah Ein Karem
Hospital said the woman, Olga Chaikov, 42, later died of her wounds. The
Gazan was in serious condition.
	Yom Tov was being treated for a leg wound at Hadassah Mount Scopus
Hospital.
	Army Radio identified the woman killed at the intersection as 39-year
old Janet Kadosh, but no police confirmation was available.
	The bus targeted belonged to the Egged company, Israel's main bus
line.
	``It is clear that these people came in order to hurt Jerusalem, its
peace and the peace of residents,'' said Foreign Minister Shimon Peres
who came to the scene with the minister of police. Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin is on an official visit to France.
	Deputy Defense Minister Mordechai Gur said Israel ``will not allow
any act of terror to affect the continuation of the peace talks.''
	Rafael Eitan, leader of the hard-line Tsomet party, said the attack
was an Arab response to the American document.
	``If the Arabs want the peace talks, they must stop terrorism
immediately,'' he said.
	Ziyad Abu Zayyad, an adviser to the Palestinian negotiatiors
condemned the attack. ``We view this as an attack on innocent civilians,
Zayyad said. ''Genuine progress in the peace talks is the answer to all
of the violence and terror that is happening around us.``


    

From: [email protected] (SID BALMAN Jr.)
Subject: U.S. anticipated initial rejection of peace proposal
Date: Thu, 1 Jul 93 15:49:38 PDT

	WASHINGTON (UPI) -- Secretary of State Warren Christopher said
Thursday that he was not surprised by Palestinian's and Israeli's flat
rejection of the first substantive American proposal since the Middle
East peace process began nearly two years ago.
	The long awaited American document, presented to both delegations
Wednesday, was intended to break the stalemate over which occupied
territories the Palestinians would exert limited authority and when.
	Both sides have called for greater U.S. involvement to end the
stalemate, but they severly criticized the new proposal when it finally
arrived.
	Christopher defended the administration's attempts at forwarding
ideas to bridge vast difference and said the Palestinian and Israeli
reaction was understandable in the face of unpalatable but necessary
compromises.
	``Not to our surprise, those ideas have not been immediately accepted
by either party,'' he said during an interview on the final day of the
talks. But ``the essence of being an intermediary or honest broker is to
present ideas which neither party may not regard as wholly satisfactory.
''
	The administration's plan for East Jerusalem, the Muslim quarter of
the holy city that Palestinians want to control but which Israelis
refuse to relinquish, triggered a veritable firestorm of criticism from
both sides.
	Palestinian spokeswoman Hanan Ashrawi expressed ``intense
displeasure'' over the ``so-called American bridging proposals.''
	``The document is not suitable as a basis for negotiations,'' she
told United Press International.
	Although the Israelis indicated initially that the proposal was a
good basis for discussions, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin shot it down
Thursday.
	He said the Americans ``should stick to'' an Israeli proposal made
during a previous round in May, which delays any possible discussion of
East Jerusalem until a second phase of talks theoretically scheduled to
take place in several years.
	``Any changes to that document will not be received by us with great
sympathy but with disappointment,'' Rabin said.
	Although Middle East diplomats and U.S. officials participating in
the talks hesitated to divulge the document's entire contents, they
provided a glimpse into the proposals on East Jerusalem.
	They said it would allow Arabs living in East Jerusalem the right to
vote, but not run for office, in Israeli-proposed elections for a
Palestinian ruling council that will have limited powers over daily
life. Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip would be
allowed to vote and to run for office.
	Palestinians demand that their East Jerusalem bretheren have the
right to do both.
	They also want East Jerusalem to be designated as part of the
occupied territories, which would require that it be included in the
land-for-peace swap dictated by U.N. resolutions, but the American
proposal does not.
	The American paper says any issue may be raised during final status
negotiations, which are supposed to take place in three years, even East
Jerusalem.
	Acceptance of the proposal will be a bitter pill for Palestinians to
swallow, but the seeds of Israeli discontent are less clear.
	Israeli leaders have refused to discuss East Jerusalem in the first
phase of talks but indicated that it may be included during the second,
a stance with which the administration apparently agrees.
	``Jerusalem has long been regarded and is still regarded as a final
status issue,'' Christopher said.
	Several top foreign policy aides will travel to the region next week
in an attempt to win acceptance for the new proposal or alter it in ways
more acceptable to all parties.
	The secretary of state said they would also ``probe other ideas''
blocking progress in Israel's negotiations with Syria, Lebanon and
Jordan.
	Christopher said he is ``quite willing'' to follow up with a visit of
his own, but has no plans at this point to do so.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Red Cross airlifts 144 refugees from devastated city
Date: Thu, 1 Jul 93 18:20:50 PDT

	LISBON, Portugal (UPI) -- The International Red Cross evacuated 144
refugees Thursday from the southern Angolan city of Huambo, devastated
by a 56-day battle.
	Portuguese radio station TSF reported that a transport aircraft
belonging to the Transafrik company, which has links to Angola's diamond
trade, left Luanda Thursday morning, picked up the refugees at Huambo
airport and flew them to the island of Sao Tome, 700 miles northwest of
Angola.
	A Portuguese air force plane was scheduled to take the refugees from
Sao Tome to Lisbon Friday.
	The group of refugees is made up of 112 Portuguese, 21 Angolans, four
Cubans, two Russians, two French, a Spaniard, an Italian and a Mexican,
according to TSF. Six of the group required medical attention in Sao
Tome.
	Red Cross official Cristophe Harnisch, coordinating the operation in
Luanda, told TSF a final evacuation flight would leave Luanda for Huambo
Friday.
	Harnisch said the Red Cross next week would concentrate on
distributing humanitarian aid to the besieged cities of Kuito and
Menongue.
--
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From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Relief task hindered in Bosnia-Herzegovina, U.N. agency says
Date: Fri, 2 Jul 93 4:50:54 PDT

	GENEVA (UPI) -- The relief situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina is
worsening as the United Nations refuses to pay ``road taxes'' for
convoys into Muslim areas and supplies in the U.N.'s Sarajevo warehouses
continue to shrink, the U.N. High Commission for Refugees said Friday.
	Bosnian Serbs have been demanding a $350 toll on every truck headed
for Gorazde and other Muslim-held areas since Thursday, UNHCR spokesman
Ron Redmond told a news conference.
	``This is highway robbery and we simply refuse to pay,'' he said. 
``As a result we have turned our trucks around and sent them back to
Belgrade while we try to assess the situation.''
	Redmond said UNHCR were told by Bosnian Serb officials several weeks
ago it was going to be charged for wear and tear on highways its truck
convoys used.
	``We recognize that, and we are prepared to contribute to the upkeep
of these highways, but we're not going to pay this levy at roadblocks,''
he said. He said the tolls are demanded only from convoys headed for
Muslim-held areas and not for those headed for Serb or Croat-populated
regions.
	Asked if the UNHCR would reconsider the situation in which supplies
continue to flow to Croats and Serbs while convoys headed for Muslim-
held areas are blocked by the demand for the road tax, Redmond said: ``I
should think that would be very likely.''
	The situation in Gorazde remains grave, Redmond said, with shelling
of the city center resuming Friday morning. UNHCR has reports of at
least four deaths from Thursday's shelling, he said.
	Food stocks in UNHCR warehouses in Sarajevo are down to two days and
cannot be distributed because there is no fuel for the trucks. There is
fuel at Sarajevo airport, where 16-17 relief flights a day continue to
arrive, but it cannot get into the city past a Serb roadblock, he said.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: N.Y. Archdiocese unveils policy on alleged sex abuse by priests
Date: Thu, 1 Jul 93 11:44:37 PDT

	NEW YORK (UPI) -- The Archdiocese of New York, in response to a
scandal that has profoundly shaken the American Church, Thursday
unveiled new procedures for dealing with allegations of sexual abuse by
priests.
	Church officials said the procedures formally codify how such
allegations are to be handled to ensure that both alleged victims and
the accused are treated with ``justice, compassion and charity.''
	Monsignor Edward O'Donnell, who handles such allegations as the
archdiocese's director of priest personnel, said although wide
disagreement exists on how extensive the problem is, he admitted the
scandal has distorted the public's perception of priests and undermined
parishioners' trust in clergy.
	``The whole church suffers because of these allegations,'' he said at
a news conference at Cathedral High School in midtown Manhattan.
	The new policy, which updates procedures established in 1985, was
drafted by an advisory board made up of lawyers, psychiatrists, parents
and a victim counsellor. It was created to advise the archodiocese on
how to handle allegations of sexual misconduct by church officials.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Reno wants investigators to scrutinize Waco tragedy
Date: Thu, 1 Jul 93 11:58:53 PDT

	WASHINGTON (UPI) -- Attorney General Janet Reno said Thursday she is
encouraging independent investigators to scrutinize her actions in the
fire and deaths that ended the standoff at the Texas compound of the
Branch Davidian cult.
	Reno said she expects 10 independent experts to question her decision
to end the 51-day standoff by calling in tanks to ram the doors and
walls of the compound and inject tear gas in an effort to drive out the
cult members.
	Federal agents were killed in initial efforts to search the compound
near Waco, Texas, in February for illegal weapons.
	About 75 members of the cult, including leader David Koresh and 13
children, died in a fire federal authorities said the Branch Davidians
set to avoid surrendering. The administration ordered an independent
investigation of the whole affair.
	``I still have many nights since April 19th'' when she asks herself
what she would have done differently, Reno told the National Press Club.
	Reno said she gained a new understanding of journalists during a
briefing following the April 19th fire that ended the standoff.
	``They almost roared at me,'' she said when describing journalists'
inquiries.
	But after a while, ``I looked at their faces begin to change,'' she
said. There was a change to ``care, understanding, sensitivity, support
and encouragement'' even as reporters questioned how such a tragedy
occurred, she said.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Muslim guerrillas attack SLA-Israeli position
Date: Fri, 2 Jul 93 5:04:27 PDT

	TYRE, Lebanon (UPI) -- Muslim guerrillas Friday attacked a joint
position of Israeli troops and their surrogate South Lebanon Army
militia in the border zone, triggering Israeli retaliatory shelling on
Shiite villages, security sources said.
	Soldiers of the Islamic Resistance Movement, the military arm of the
pro-Iranian Hezbollah, fired two Soviet-made Katyusha rockets against an
SLA-Israeli post in Rashaf in the central sector of Israel's self-
declared ``security zone,'' the sources said.
	The attack inflicted slight material damage, they said.
	In retaliation, Israeli artillery fired four 155mm rockets against
the Shiite villages of Haris and Tebnine at the other side of the fence,
they said.
	There was no word on casualties or damage.
	On Tuesday, two Islamic Resistance guerrillas and a 10-year-old boy
were killed, and four people, including an SLA militiaman, were wounded,
as Hezbollah fighters launched a series of attacks against SLA-Israeli
troops in southern Lebanon.
	Hezbollah, Israel's arch enemy, along with Palestinian and Lebanese
leftist groups, oppose the ongoing Middle East peace talks and are
pledged to combat the Jewish state until it withdraws from southern
Lebanon.
	Israel established the nine-mile ``security zone'' in 1985 in order
to protect its northern territories.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Santeria priest apologizes for sacrifices
Date: Fri, 2 Jul 93 5:45:04 PDT

	MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (UPI) -- A Santeria priest who outraged animal
activists and his own church by staging animal sacrifices in front of
television cameras has issued a public apology.
	``I just wanted to demonstrate that we kill animals quickly,''
Rigoberto Zamora said Thursday. ``But others saw it from another point
of view. They just saw an animal being killed and they're used to buying
their meats in a supermarket.''
	Zamora's demonstration resulted in protests from animal activists,
expulsion from the church and talk of regulation by the city.
	The Supreme Court ruled unanimously last month that government cannot
ban animal sacrifices if they are an integral part of a religious
ceremony. In the aftermath of the decision, Zamora decided to
demonstrate the ceremony.
	During a two-hour demonstration in public, Zamora sacrificed 15
animals. He had to switch knives midway through the slaughter of one
goat, he slammed a guinnea hen against the floor before cutting off its
head and ripped the head off a pigeon.
	Ernesto Pichardo, a priest with the Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye,
which won the court decision, said he did not accept Zamora's apology.
He said Zamora failed to apologize to other santeros, followers of the
religion, and to the city of Miami Beach.
	``Zamora was informed two days prior to his conduct that his intent
would be viewed as offensive to our religious traditions, as well as the
general community,'' he said.
	The apology will not have any impact on a petition signed by a group
of 200 high priests to oust Zamora, Prichard said. The group also
claimed he was not a high priest.
	Zamora said he became a high priest in Cuba, and no other
practitioner has the authority to sanction him. But he also said he will
never again conduct a public ceremony.
	``It was an error on my part,'' he said. ``It had a different effect
than the one I was anticipating.''
	Local governments have been considering limiting such sacrifices to
churches. Zamora performed his ceremony in his home.


    

From: [email protected] (BEN LYNFIELD)
Subject: Islamic Jihad threatens Americans in Gaza
Date: Tue, 6 Jul 93 4:58:41 PDT

	JERUSALEM (UPI) -- United Nations officials in the Gaza Strip said
Tuesday they were ``taking seriously'' a threat by Muslim extremists to
abduct Americans in the occupied territories if the United States
extradites Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman to Egypt.
	The threat, signed by ``Islamic Jihad,'' was scrawled on the walls of
the United Nations Relief and Works Agency office in Gaza City and on a
building of the nearby Islamic University campus.
	``We are making contact with all of the groups, with the various
factions, to ask them about the slogans, to ask them who did them and
how serious they are,'' said Ron Wilkinson, spokesman for UNWRA, which
provides food and humanitarian assistance to hundreds of thousands of
registered Palestinian refugess in the Strip.
	``Any threat is serious and we have to consider it seriously,'' he
added.
	Palestinian residents said the grafitti warned: ``If the U.S.
government hands over Abdel-Rahman, we will kidnap Americans who work in
the Gaza Strip or West Bank. It is the last chance for them not to give
Sheik Abdel-Rahman to the Egyptian government.''
	Abdel-Rahman was detained Friday in New York after his followeres
were linked to the World Trade Center bombing and to plans for further
attacks.
	Egypt wants him in connection with attacks and incitement against
President Hosni Mubarak's government and he faces expulsion from the
United States for violating immigration laws.
	Wilkinson said three of the 28 international staffers working for
UNWRA in the Gaza Strip are Americans and most of the others look
European and could be potential targets for abduction. ``I'm Canadian
but I don't think they would make a distinction,'' he said.
	He said UNWRA personnel had received threatening letters in the past
but that no one was subsequently harmed.
	Islamic Jihad, which means Islamic Holy War, espouses a radical
ideology hostile to the West and calling for the destruction of Israel
and secular Arab governments. It seeks to institute Islamic government
based on the Koran, or Muslim holy scriptures.
	Israeli authorities blame cells of the group for attacks in Israel,
the occupied territories and a 1990 bus attack on Israelis in Ismailia,
Egypt.


    

From: [email protected] (ADRIANA PONTIERI)
Subject: Children at U.N. rights meeting plead for world peace
Date: Mon, 5 Jul 93 19:08:09 PDT
	
 UPI NewsFeature
	
	VIENNA (UPI) -- When Rosa Anaya Perla asked for a moment of silence,
hundreds of delegates obeyed. When she spoke, you could here a needle
drop. A 16-year-old girl from El Salvador was the first person to bring
a major U.N. human rights conference to a standstill.
	``Please stop the violence that surrounds the children of the world,''
Rosa begged. ``This may be just a picture to you, but to me it is my
reality and the reality of many children around the world,'' she said,
holding up a photograph showing the bloody corpse of her father, a
murdered human rights worker.
	Rosa was one of 200 children form the Coalition of the Children of
the Earth, a program to unite under-17s from all over the world, who met
at the recent U.N. World Conference on Human Rights.
	Two of the children spoke to the conference during a special
children's theme day, the first time children have been allowed to
participate and submit recommendations at a major U.N. conclave.
	The children, of all ages and representing 40 countries, had
teleconferences with adult representatives during the 11-day conference
to share their experiences of torture, violence and suffering.
	Their laughter and noisy bustle brought life to the sometimes somber
conference center, but their stories of personal tragedy sent shivers
down every adult's spine.
	``I grew up with no human rights,'' said 17-year-old Nora Hfizademi.
	Nora is an ethnic Albanian from Kosovo, a southern province Serbia.
Although Kosovo's population is 90 percent Albanian, the Serbian
government has fired Albanian doctors and closed Albanian schools.
	``Serbian police have used violence against us children, throwing
poison bombs into Albanian classrooms. It left many children paralysed
or mentally retarded,'' Nora said. ``Tell me: Why is no one working on
our problem?''
	Adults, some crying, also spoke of how children have become victims
of the fighting elsewhere in the former Yugoslavia.
	``I don't know or care why we were being attacked,'' said 35-year-old
Zrinka Capor, a schoolteacher from the Croatian port of Zadar. ``All I
know is that the children I teach will never be the same carefree
children they were before.''
	``My childhood passed a few years ago and I never saw the light of
day again,'' said Shpend Gashi, 16, another ethnic Albanian from Kosovo,
who said he saw his best friend deliberately gunned down by Serbian
police. ``Life is not important to me anymore. You do everything to
learn and make a career and then you get shot.''
	The use of children as deliberate targets in war zones like former
Yugoslavia is worrying the U.N. Children's Fund, or UNICEF.
	``UNICEF officials have witnessed too many cases of children being
targeted by snipers,'' said Samir Basta, director of the UNICEF office
in Geneva.
	However, despite the stories of suffering, U.N. officials refer to
the Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted in 1989 and put into
force one year later, as a ``success convention.''
	Designed to protect the social, economic, cultural, civil and
political rights of the child, the convention has been ratified by 138
countries -- more than any other international human rights treaty.
	``This treaty has been so extensively ratified because we are dealing
with children. ... Our goal is universal ratification by 1995,'' said
Marta Santos Pais, a member of the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the
Child.
	But U.N. officials are annoyed that the United States is among
countries yet to ratify the treaty, one of several human rights treaties
it has put on the back burner.
	Thomas Hammerberg, a member of the Committee on the Rights of the
Child, said the administration of former President Bush did not back the
treaty because it pledges to protect the rights of the unborn child, a
clause which would have fired up the abortion debate, and because
certain U.S. states reserve the right to sentence children under 18 to
death -- another right the convention sets out to do away with.
	But John Shattuck, the assistant secretary of state for human rights,
said the Clinton administration considers the children's convention a 
``high priority,'' raising activists hopes that the legislation will be
ratified soon.
	But as governments and delegations continue to debate ratification
and implementation, 35,000 children will continue to die every day
across the world, UNICEF says.
	Over 75 percent of these children come form developing countries and
will die from dehydration, pneumonia and measels. Others will die in war
zones. UNICEF statistics show 1,400 children have been killed in
Sarajevo alone since the start of the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina and 12,
800 have been wounded. For every child killed in war-torn former
Yugoslavia, 100 are severely injured.
	``We children feel that our human rights are violated, and we feel
that it is vital that we are part of the decisions that affect us,''
said Sleepy Eye La Framboise, a 17-year-old half-Seneca, half-Sioux
Indian.
	``When the adults begin to act as children and love one another, then
and only then will this world be exactly what the Creator intended it to
be,'' he told delegates.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Dinkins ducks controversy in Israel
Date: Tue, 6 Jul 93 7:27:53 PDT

	TEL AVIV (UPI) -- New York Mayor David Dinkins acknowledged his city's
close connection with Israel Tuesday but tried to stay outside the
country's political fray as he toured a Tel Aviv neighborhood hit by
Scud missiles during the Gulf War.
	``New Yorkers have always had a very special relationship with Israel
because we have more Jews who live in New York City than in any other
city in the world,'' Dinkins said after a meeting with Tel Aviv Mayor
Shlomo Lahat and a tour of the war-damaged Hatikvah section.
	Property damage from the Scuds has been repaired but the neighborhood
remains one of the poorest in the city.
	Dinkins later headed for Jerusalem where he was to dedicate ``New
York Place'' Wednesday on a busy thoroughfare outside the Foreign
Ministry. A blue metal rendering of the Statue of Liberty was
commissioned for the spot and local residents have already panned the
artwork as remarkably ugly.
	He was also to meet with Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, visit
religious sites with Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek and tour the Yad
Vashem Holocaust museum.
	Generally supportive of Israel at home, Dinkins told reporters he
would not comment on Middle East politics.
	``I know only enough to know that I should stay away from it.''
	Some critics have charged that Dinkins' visit is a bid to retain
Jewish support at home for the November mayoral race in New York.
Thirty-five percent of Jews supported him in his narrow 1989 victory,
but his popularity has nosedived over his handling of violence between
blacks and Jews in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Crown Heights in the
summer of 1991.
	The furor was touched off when a Hasidic Jew driving in the area
accidentally killed a 7-year-old black child. Hours later, the child's
death was avenged with the killing of a Jewish rabbinical student. A
subsequent report said city officials were slow to react to the ensuing
riots.  But Mayor Lahat dismissed conjecture on the reasons for Dinkins's
visit, and told his American counterpart that ``the principle is that
you are here.'' Dinkins also visited Israel during the Gulf War.
	Among the politicians and Jewish community leaders accompanying
Dinkins was Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the celebrity sexologist, who was in
the Israeli Hagana underground during the establishment of the state.
	Westheimer, who is serving as an unofficial guide for the group, said
she felt ``fantastic'' to be part of Dinkins' entourage.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Israel defends use of force in occupied territories
Date: Wed, 7 Jul 93 9:15:11 PDT

	JERUSALEM (UPI) -- Israeli army commanders Wednesday defended the
practice of demolishing homes of suspected Palestinian activists in the
occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip and denied their forces used torture
during interrogation.
	``House demolitions are a deterrent,'' said Col. David Ya'av,
introducing a 250-page book published by the army defending its
practices in the territories occupied by Israel since 1967. ``From
perspective, it's legal...It's very, very effective.''
	The army would not say how many houses have been destroyed to punish
Palestinians accused of security crimes, but Palestinian sources put the
number at more than 400 since the Palestinian uprising, or intifada,
started more than five years ago.
	Human rights organizations have routinely criticized house
demolitions as illegal under international law, calling the measure a
form of collective punishment. They note houses are often blown up
before the accused is convicted.
	However, army officials said blowing up homes is within the law and
does not constitute collective punishment.
	``We are entitled to use measures that restore public order and
safety in the territories,'' said Ya'av. ``It's aimed at those who
killed people or attempted to kill people and the idea is to reduce the
number of killings.''
	``A lot of houses we blew up were houses of Palestinians who killed
Palestinians,'' he added.
	The officials also denied that Palestinian suspects are often
tortured during interrogation.
	``There is no torture in the occupied territories,'' said Ya'av. ``In
a minority of interrogations, the interrogator is entitled to use
moderate physical pressure.''
	``Moderate physical pressure is a guideline set by the 1989 Landau
Commission, a special panel set up to determine the amount of force
interrogators can use when questioning Palestinian detainees.
	Human rights organizations such as Amnesty International, the
Atlanta-based Carter Center and the Israeli human rights group,
B'tselem, all have alleged that Palestinians are tortured during
interrogation.
	Palestinians say forms of torture include sleep deprivation, putting
a wet sack over the detainee's head to make breathing difficult and
tying them in uncomfortable positions. 


    

From: [email protected] (BOGDAN TUREK)
Subject: Holocaust survivors appeal for end to indifference over Bosnia
Date: Wed, 7 Jul 93 9:43:03 PDT

	WARSAW, Poland (UPI) -- An international three-day conference bringing
together Jews who survived the Holocaust and their rescuers ended
Wednesday with a call for the world to stop being indifferent to the
atrocities in war-torn Bosnia-Herzegovina.
	Participants in the conference of the Jewish Foundation for Christian
Rescuers said that the indifference of the West to Hitler's crimes
against Jews during World War II encouraged the Nazis to draw up and
implement their criminal plans against other nations.
	They warned that a similar indifference to ethnic cleansing and other
atrocities in Bosnia-Herzegovina may result in an escalation of violence
in other parts of Europe.
	Christian Serbs have conducted a systematic campaign they call 
``ethnic cleansing'' to drive Muslim Slavs from territory under their
control. The republic's other two warring factiosn, Muslims and Croats,
have been accused of carrying out similar expulsions in some towns.
	``We are living at a time when people are being killed systematically
and a doctrine of ethnic cleansing is postulated,'' said former U.S.
National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, who is of Polish origin.
	The conference was sponsored by the Anti-Defamation League, which was
formed in 1913 in the United States to combat anti-Semitism and racism.
It brought together, for the first time in an organized way, Jews and
their Polish Catholic rescuers.
	In one of the more moving moments, Jack Pariser, who now lives in
California, said for 50 years he tried to forget his past, which
included three years in hiding in Poland with the help of two Polish
families.
	But he said he changed his mind recently when he heard of 
``revisionists'' who claim the Holocaust never happened. He realized
that if everyone forgets, than Adolf Hitler would have killed his
victims twice -- once physically, and once spiritually.
	His voice breaking, he said, ``I woke up to the hurting feeling of
the great debt that we owe our rescuers.'' He was reunited with the
family of Stanislaw Swierczek and Wladyslaw Porebski for the first time
earlier in the day.
	To prove that sensitivity and courage can save lives, the organizers
reunited at least a dozen such Poles who risked their lives to rescue
Jews. Poland was the only country in Europe where the penalty for
helping a Jew was death.
	About 900 Poles lost their lives helping Jews and more than 4,000
have been awarded the medal ``Righteous Among the Nations of the World''
by Israel for hiding Jews.
	But the general opinion of conference participants was that the world
has remained immune to the sufferings of others.
	Brzezinski said that neither the Holocaust, during which 6 million
Jews died, nor World War II, which killed 19 million people of other
nationalities, have taught leaders to react quickly to quench violent
conflicts. He used the former Yugoslavia as an example.
	``The West is not demonstrating any compassion nor any commitment to
action,'' Brzezinski said. ``It is watching a great deal of crime.''
	Wladyslaw Bartoszewski, a former prisoner in the Nazi Auschwitz
concentration camp near Krakow and now Polish ambassador to Austria,
said the West could be excused for not knowing too much about the German
atrocities during World War II, but now they see crimes like those
committed in Yugoslavia almost daily on television in their homes.
	``Indifference becomes a crime under such a situation,'' he said.
	Abraham Foxman, chairman of the Anti-Defamation League and a survivor
of the Auschwitz camp, decried the inactivity of the West for not
helping Jews during World War II.
	``What if there had been a willingness in Washington in 1943 to take
action against Hitler's killing machine?'' he asked. ``What if they had
bombed the railroad tracks leading to Auschwitz and Treblinka (another
death camp)?''
	``Obviously, not all the Jews would have been saved, but some would
have escaped the horrors of the camps,'' he said.
    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Imprisoned murderers in Israel allowed to marry
Date: Wed, 7 Jul 93 10:59:08 PDT

	JERUSALEM (UPI) -- Wedding bells are ringing in Israel's toughest
prisons.
	On Wednesday, it was Samir Kuntar's turn. The Lebanese native, 32,
billed as one of the most dangerous men behind bars in Israel, was
convicted in 1979 of killing four Israelis in the northern town of
Naharia. He married an Israeli Arab from nearby Acre who had been
visiting him lately.
	Their nuptials followed the prison wedding last month of Ami Popper,
24, an Israeli who killed seven Arab laborers at a road intersection in
1990.
	But there the similarities end. Officials at Nafkha Prison in the
Negev Desert allowed the heavily guarded Kuntar, 32, to have 10 guests.
They were permitted to bring fruit but not meat, rice or cookies. And
his bride, who was not identified, went home for the night.
	Popper's wedding at Ayalon Prison in the central Israeli town of
Ramle featured a buffet, wine, a musical quartet and 70 guests. His
bride, Canadian immigrant Sarah Goldberg, stayed on the prison grounds
until dawn to consummate the marriage. 
	Dubi Ben-Ami, spokesman for the Israeli Prison Authority, said there
was ``no relationship between the two weddings. We evaluate each case on
its own merits.'' He declined to comment further.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Dock workers block Egypt border
Date: Wed, 7 Jul 93 11:33:44 PDT

	JERUSALEM (UPI) -- Hundreds of dock workers from the port of Eilat
blocked the border crossing to Egypt Wednesday to protest the U.N.
diversion of Israeli shipping away from the port.
	Assembling at the Taba border crossing for several hours, the
protesters prevented hundreds of tourists from reaching the popular
Sinai Desert region of Egypt. Also held up at the border were several
vacationing diplomats and American soldiers from the multi-national
peacekeeping force, state-run Israel Radio reported.
	Demonstrators claimed the diversion of ships by the United Nations at
the Straits of Tiran has all but closed the port, throwing hundreds of
people out of work.
	Israeli ships have been turned away to enforce the U.N. blockade of
Iraq in effect since the 1991 Gulf War. A blockade of the same straits
by Egypt led to the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
	``Nobody in Israel thinks that via the port of Eilat Scud missiles or
weapons are being transferred to Iraq. The U.N. has to understand that,''
said Eilat Deputy Mayor Gad Levine, who joined the protesters.
	The demonstration took place one day after French warships in the Red
Sea refused to allow the Zim Haifa container ship to enter the Gulf of
Eilat. Eilat is located adjacent to the port of Aqaba, Jordan, where the
U.N. suspected that cargo was being unloaded for Iraq.


    

From: [email protected] (JONATHAN FERZIGER)
Subject: Dinkins dedicates Jerusalem's 'New York Place'
Date: Wed, 7 Jul 93 12:37:39 PDT

	JERUSALEM (UPI) -- Gazing up at a mass of scrap metal painted blue and
twisted into the shape of the Statue of Liberty, Israeli leaders
dedicated one of the city's busiest thoroughfares Wednesday to the
bustling Big Apple.
	A beaming New York Mayor David Dinkins, running for a second term in
November, stood amid honking traffic almost worthy of Times Square to
receive the tribute as dozens of blue and orange helium baloons were set
loose into the sky.
	But he was trailed by a bevy of hometown protesters reminding him of
the black-Jewish violence that erupted two years ago in his city's Crown
Heights neighborhood.
	The theme of the day, however, was ethnic harmony and coexistence,
for which Dinkins and Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek said they hoped ``New
York Place'' would be a shining example.
	``We believe in the essential goodnesss and decency of the people in
our cities and believe that peace, harmony and cooperation will someday
prevail over conflict, strife and division,'' Dinkins said.
	Kollek said the traffic island, crowned by a blue eight-foot
rendering of the Statue of Liberty, would be a place where ``all people,
Jew and gentile, white and black, can meet.''
	The monument stands on one of Jerusalem's most traffic-clogged
arteries, between the Foreign Ministry compound and the honky-tonk
streets of the Mahane Yehuda marketplace.
	Already, local drivers have complained that the abstract statue, a
work of ``found art'' by Jerusalem sculptor Jono Jack, looks like a
scarecrow at the entrance to the City of Gold.
	``It's kind of like the Statue of Liberty was fried by blue
lightning,'' one city official whispered.
	Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, who shepherded Dinkins through a
meeting with Israeli business leaders earlier in the day, lauded Dinkins
as a ``friend of our country'' and ``a great supporter of the Middle
East peace process.
	He said the New York mayor, whose city contains the largest Jewish
community outside the state of Israel, could teach his country something
about relieving ethnic tensions.
	``Believe me, together we will change the land of the Middle East as
you have changed the land of New York and make room and tolerance for
all people from all walks of life,'' he said.
	Across the street, however, the two-dozen New Yorkers who
demonstrated against Dinkins suggested the city's first black mayor was
no beacon of ethnic harmony and was only seeking to woo Jewish electoral
support with his trip to Israel.
	Chanting ``No justice, no votes,'' the protesters said Dinkins was
responsible for a ``do-nothing'' policy after a Jewish rabbinical
student was killed by blacks in Crown Heights two years ago. The killing
was touched off when a Hasidic Jew driving in the area accidently ran
over a 7-year-old black child and killed her.
	``For me it would be morally unconscionable to be in Israel while the
mayor of the city of New York dedicates 'New York Place' without raising
a voice of moral conscience and reminding everyone that this was a mayor
under whose tenure there was a pogrom in Crown Heights in 1991,'' said
Rabbi Avi Weiss, a Jewish activist who leads the Hebrew Institute of
Riverdale synagogue. ``We will not forget.''
    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: U.S. aides head to Middle East to talk peace
Date: Wed, 7 Jul 93 14:29:05 PDT

	WASHINGTON (UPI) -- A team of senior administration aides departs for
the Middle East Wednesday in hopes of jumpstarting the stalled peace
process, the State Department said.
	Dennis Ross, coordinator for the peace talks, Martin Indyk, Middle
East specialist on the National Security Council, and others land in
Jerusalem Thursday morning, officials said.
	Although the State Department refuses for security reasons to
publicly reveal the delegation's schedule, administration officials said
the team will then travel to Cairo, Damascus and Amman before returning
to Jerusalem July 14.
	They will be joined during the trip by Assistant Secretary of State
Ed Djerejian, who has been in Moscow discussing the talks with the
Russian co-sponsors.
	The 10th negotiating session between Israelis and Palestinians,
Syrians, Jordanians and Lebanese ended last week with no progress
whatsoever on any front.
	The State Department gave Israelis and Palestinians, who are
discussing ways in which the Arab group may gain a degree of autonomy
over the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, a proposal to break
the nearly two-year logjam.
	That ``draft paper'' is one of the main topics to be taken up by the
Americans during their trip, administration officials said.


    

From: [email protected] (MOHAMMED DARWEESH)
Subject: Two Israeli soldiers killed, three wounded in bomb blast
Date: Thu, 8 Jul 93 4:07:06 PDT

	TYRE, Lebanon (UPI) -- Two Israeli soldiers were killed and three
others were wounded when an explosive charge planted by Palestinian
guerrillas detonated against their patrol inside the border zone in
southern Lebanon, security sources said.
	Guerrillas of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-
General Command planted the bomb on a dusty road leading to the Jarmaq-
Aishiyeh road in the eastern sector of Israel's self-declared ``security
zone,'' some 15 miles east of the southern port city of Sidon.
	The roadside bomb detonated, hitting an Israeli patrol and destroying
an armoured vehicle, they said.
	The PFLP-GC guerrillas then attacked the patrol, firing machine guns
and rocket-propelled grenades.
	The Israeli soldiers returned fire, triggering a 30-minute clash,
according to the security sources.
	Two Israeli soldiers were killed and three others were wounded, the
sources said, adding that the attackers managed to escape unharmed.
	The Israeli casualties were rushed in a helicopter to hospitals
inside Israel.
	The PFLP-GC said in a statement that its guerrillas attacked ``a
Zionist patrol on the Jarmak-Aishiyeh road, killing and wounding seven
soldiers and destroying a Mirkava tank.''
	Israeli helicopters rushed reinforcements to fortify their positions
in the area, they said. The gunships also strafed nearby bushes and
woods, searching for the guerrillas.
	Jibril's group which strongly reject talking peace with the Jewish
state known for carrying out ``suicide operations'' against Israel, such
as the 1982 attack on the northern settlement of the Kiryat Shmona.
	Another squad of guerrillas attacked during the night a position of
Israel's proxy militia, the South Lebanon Army militia, in the village
of Saidoun at the edge of the ``security zone'' and near the Christian
town of Jezzine.
	The pro-Syrian Shiite Amal movement claimed responsibility for the
attack and said in a statement that its guerrillas destroyed the SLA
post fortifications and observation tour.
	In retaliation, Israeli and SLA artillery blasted Shiite villages on
the other side of the fence, targeting the Iqlim Al Toffah region, east
of Sidon.
	Some 30 155mm shells slammed on Mlita, Jabal Safi, Louweizeh and
Jabal Al Rihan. There was no immediate word on casualties or material
damage, the security sources said.
	SLA militiamen erected a checkpoint on the road leading to the
villages of Yohmur and Rihan just outside inside the border zone and
searched cars and pedestrians.
	An Israeli force crossed the border zone at dawn and kidnapped a 15-
year-old girl, identified as Zahra Khawajah, from her house in the
village of Arnoun, security sources said.
	The force took Khawajah to the border zone, the sources said. The
reason behind her arrest was not known.
	Palestinian and Lebanese groups, opposing the ongoing Mideast peace
talks, have pledged to battle Israel until the liberation of the
occupied Arab land.
	Israel has been controlling the ``security zone,'' a nine-mile (15
km) inside Lebanon, since 1985 in an attempt to protect its northern
border.


    

From: [email protected] (BEN LYNFIELD)
Subject: Israelis, Palestinians prepare to meet with peace talks team
Date: Thu, 8 Jul 93 9:43:42 PDT

	JERUSALEM (UPI) -- Israeli and Palestinian leaders prepared Thursday
for a visit by the American coordinator of the Middle East peace talks,
hoping the dialogue would spur their slow-moving negotiations but wary
of heightened pressure for concessions.
	Peace talks coordinator Dennis Ross, Assistant Secretary of State
Edward Djerejian and National Security Council Mideast specialist Martin
Indyk, will meet with Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin late Thursday on the
first leg of a trip that includes visits to Cairo, Damascus and Amman.
	``We hope the visit will give a new momentum to the talks so that
they can move ahead,'' said Gad Ben-Ari, spokesman for Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin.
	Negotiators finished their 10th round last week with Israelis and
Palestinians wide apart in their positions on the extent of self-rule
Palestinians should have in the occupied territories.
	The U.S. team will visit Jerusalem again July 14 before returning to
Washington. American strategists hope progress between Israel and the
Palestinians will serve as a catalyst for Israeli negotiations with
Syria and Jordan, whose leaders are wary of being perceived as betraying
the Palestinian cause by reaching prior agreements.
	The trip appeared to be the most determined American foray into the
Arab-Israeli cauldron since last winter, when Secretary of State Warren
Christopher stitched back together the peace process after Israel's
expulsion to Lebanon of 415 suspected Muslim militants.
	Ben-Ari declined to discuss what, if any, modifications Israel would
seek in a U.S. document submitted last week to pave the way for an
Israeli-Palestinian declaration of principles to streamline talks on
self-rule in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.
	``Israel understands and appreciates the role of the United States in
talks and we believe the other parties appreciate the need for deep
American involvement to giver the process the necessary push,'' Ben-Ari
said.
	Hanan Ashrawi, spokeswoman for the Palestinian negotiators, said the
U.S. plan would not be viewed as the ``point of departure'' by the
Palestinians in their talks with Ross.
	``We will discuss the matters of Jerusalem and the geographical
district (of self-rule) in addition to living conditions under the
occupation,'' Ashrawi told the al-Quds Arab daily newspaper.
	The Palestinians are seeking a territorial dimension to self-rule
that would pave the way for statehood, while Israel insists that self-
government apply to Palestinian residents but not to territory.
	In a related development, two Cabinet ministers, Justice Minister
David Libai and Health Minister Haim Ramon, distanced themselves from a
statement by legislator Hagai Merom that they and a majority of the
Cabinet secretly favor direct talks with the Tunis-based leadership of
the Palestine Liberation Organization.
	``There is no basis for the assumption that Yasser Arafat is more
moderate than the Palestinian delegation in Washington,'' said Libai,
referring to the Arafat-backed leadership from the West Bank and Gaza
Strip with whom Israel conducts the negotiations.
	Israel has traditionally shunned a direct role in the talks for the
Tunis-based PLO leaders, saying they have been involved in terrorism and
are less pragmatic than their counterparts in the territories. But the
policy has been increasingly questioned lately in Rabin's center-left
coalition, as liberals look for a way to jump-start the talks.
	The American team was to meet with Foreign Minister Shimon Peres
Friday and with Palestinian leaders, who have sharply criticized the
declaration of principles as being biased in favor of Israel.
	The team will return to Jerusalem on July 14 before returning to
Washington.
	Rabin has said he is ``disappointed'' in the American document, but
some Israeli analysts dismissed the comment as posturing and said that
he was essentially satisfied with it.
	Despite skepticism voiced last week by top Palestinian negotiator
Haidar Abdel-Shafi, some Palestinians leaders have said they are anxious
to avoid a head-on confrontation with Washington.
	Nabil Shaath, an adviser to PLO leader Yasser Arafat, told reporters
in Cairo Wednesday that an ``explosion'' of the peace process was
undesirable, and called for ``amendments'' in the U.S. paper.
	Details on the U.S. plan have not been released but Palestinian
negotiators say it does not provide for talks on the status of East
Jerusalem during the current negotiations on self-government.
	The area was annexed as part of Israel's capital after the 1967 war.
Palestinians view it as the future capital of the state to which they
aspire.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Israeli who infiltrated German neo-Nazi groups expects arrests
Date: Thu, 8 Jul 93 11:54:34 PDT

	BONN, Germany (UPI) -- An Israeli investigator who infiltrated German
neo-Nazi groups for six months said he expected a number of rightists
will be arrested on the basis of an affidavit he swore Thursday after
briefing police and justice authorities in Bonn.
	Yaron Svoray, 38, the son of Holocaust survivors, told a news
conference he expected a leading neo-Nazi to be arrested very soon and
suggested other arrests were likely to follow.
	Svoray, who conducted the undercover investigation on behalf of the
Simon Wiesethal Center between October 1992 and April 1993 declined to
say which of the dozens of people he named in his voluminous report
faced arrest. But he said that the person he testified against Thursday
``is a well known figure within the neo-Nazi organization.''
	``He denied Auschwitz in public and, to me, spoke of the greater
glory of Hitler and about the fact that he could have succeeded had it
not been for his miserable generals,'' Svoray said. ``He talked about
overthrowing the government by force and other means and talked about
laundering money for the movement.''
	Publicly denying the Holocaust ever happened and propagating Nazi
ideals are criminal offenses in Germany.

From: [email protected] (SID BALMAN Jr.)
Subject: U.S. to allow Israeli purchases of military inventory
Date: Thu, 8 Jul 93 13:33:21 PDT

	WASHINGTON (UPI) -- The administration has assured Israel it will be
allowed on an emergency basis to purchase military equipment from
Pentagon stocks if President Clinton decides to endorse a proposal to
severly restrict all nations' ability to buy such items, officials said
Thursday.
	Under the new proposal, countries can no longer spend money lent by
the United States to purchase weapons systems and associated items
directly from American contractors, Pentagon and State Department
officials said.
	The plan was hatched after the Pentagon inspector general found
purchasers engaged in such gross misconduct as kickbacks and bribes,
Department of Defense spokesman Maj. Tom Larock and other officials
said.
	The most celebrated case occured in 1991 when Israeli Gen. Rami Dotan
was convicted of conspiring with executives of GE Aircraft engines of
Evendale, Ohio, to use the ``foreign military financing'' purchasing
system to defraud the U.S. government.
	Nations allowed to buy equipment with U.S. foreign military financing
-- Israel, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, Portugal, Tunisia, Morocco and Jordan --
have been permitted to purchase directly from American contractors. But
the resulting lack of U.S. oversight in those deals allowed foreign
customers to engage in illicit activities, they said.
	Israel, whose nearly $2 billion in proposed U.S. grants for next year
make it by far the largest recipient, and the other nations were
informed of the possible change in a June 8 letter from Lt. Gen. Teddy
Allen, director of the Defense Security Assistance Agency.
	``The Department of Defense has decided to terminate the use of
foreign military financing for direct commercial contracts,'' Allen
wrote in his letter, a copy of which was made available to United Press
International.
	U.S. loans could still be spent on American military equipment, but
only on a government-to-government basis.
	The change, affecting more than $3 billion in U.S. grants slated for
next year, will go into effect Jan. 1 if Congress or the president do
not overturn it.
	Israel was the only nation so far to protest the proposal, officials
said, arguing that the restrictions would handcuff them in the event of
a military emergency.
	``You are not dealing here with a country with normal security
concerns,'' Israeli spokeswoman Ruth Yaron said. ``It might take too
long if in an emergency situation we have to go through the American
military bureaucracy.''
	U.S. and Israeli officials said the resulting compromise will allow
the Jewish state to purchase directly from Pentagon stocks in the event
of a ``compelling military need.''
	``And it suits us just fine,'' Israeli Ambassador Itamar Rabinovich
said last week outside the State Department prior to entering a session
of Middle East peace negotiations.
	Providing Israel with military equipment from the U.S. inventory
would not be unprecedented. President Richard Nixon authorized an
airlift of American weapons to Israel during the 1973 war with the
Arabs.
	But some U.S. officials say their is a hidden agenda driving the
decision-making process at the the Department of Defense.
	The Pentagon does not receive its 3 percent commission for military
sales if a buyer deals directly with the contractor. And the proposed
change would insure that the military gets its fee on all purchases.
	``It's a pot sweetener,'' a senior State Department official involved
in the decision-making process said under conditions of anonymity. 
``Some folks consider it the primary reason.''


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Amnesty criticizes international human rights record
Date: Thu, 8 Jul 93 13:33:21 PDT

	WASHINGTON (UPI) -- Amnesty International released a grim annual
report Thursday on human rights abuses around the world, accusing
governments of ``blatant hypocrisy on human rights issues'' and saying
more and more countries are violating the rights of their citizens
despite the growth of democracy.
	The 363-page book, arranged country-by-country in alphabetical order,
details the widespread abuse of rights by governments, police and
security forces, paramilitary groups and rebel movements. The group
accuses 161 countries of committing violations in 1992, the highest
number in its 32-year history.
	``It's a disagreeable book,'' said Curt Goering, Amnesty
International's executive director, during a news conference to release
the report in Washington. ``It is a horrible catalogue of human
suffering.''
	Goering said more than 110 government used torture in their prisons
or police stations, 62 countries held prisoners of conscience and 45
nations engaged in assassinations and political killings to remove
opponents of the government.
	While few countries escaped criticism by Amnesty, several were
singled out because of the widespread abuses. The organization sharply
condemned the ``appalling year for human rights in Europe,'' especially
due to the ethnic conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
	The three warring factions in the republic -- Serbs, Croats and Muslim
Slavs -- all were listed as violators of human rights, but the local Serb
militias were singled out for their treatment of Muslim Slavs. Serbs
have engaged in a systematic campaign to drive Muslims from territory
under their control.
	The organization also condemned the rise of racially motivated ill-
treatment of minorities by police in Europe, including Germany, France,
Italy and Spain. Some eastern European countries like Romania and
Bulgaria were singled out for similar criticism.
	Britain came under fire for actions in Northern Ireland, and the
Irish Republican Army was criticized as one of several rebel groups in
Europe that engaged in rights violations.
	The United States was criticized for its continuing use of the death
penalty and its policy of returning Haitians intercepted on the high
seas without first investigating their requests for refugee status.
	Amnesty said human rights abuses persisted in Latin American and
Africa despite the growth of democracy in both regions, with unarmed
civilians reported slain or disappearing in Angola, Chad, Sierra Leone,
Sudan and Zaire and thousands slain by armed forces, paramilitary troops
or death squads in Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Guatemala and Haiti.
	``We thought that the resurgence of democracy would protect human
rights. This hypothesis appears to be in error,'' Goering said.
	``Unfortunately, the disappearances, extrajudicial executions and
torture continue,'' added Carlos Salinas, a Latin America expert for
Amnesty. ``Democracy doesn't guarantee human rights,'' he added, saying
the countries also had to have the ``political will'' to eliminate
rights abuses.
	Amnesty said Asia showed ``little sign of any improvement in human
rights.'' The organization cited political killings in advance of the U.
N.-backed elections in Cambodia, and said political slayings in the
Philippines, Burma, Indonesia, East Timor and Sri Lanka were part of 
``an enduring pattern of repression.''
	The rights group said torture was rife in India, and the Chinese
government was holding hundreds of prisoners of conscience. India and
Sri Lanka were singled out as countries where militant groups were also
responsible for widespread human rights abuses.
	The Middle East also saw serious rights violations, with the Turkish
government using torture and increasing violence against the
secessionist Kurds and Iraq causing the disappearance of Kurds in the
northwest and Shiite Muslims in the southern marsh regions, Amnesty
said.
	The continuing struggle between Israeli security forces and
Palestinians in the occupied territories resulted in human rights abuses
on both sides, the group said.
	The report ``lays bare the abject failure of governments of all
complexions to protect basic human rights at home and abroad,'' Amnesty
said. ``Governments showed their blatant hypocrisy on human rights
issues.
	``Government reaction to dissent or opposition at home was equally
hypocritical,'' Amnesty said. ``While publicly proclaiming their
commitment to human rights, rulers in every nation of the world resorted
to violent repression.''
	Nomgcobo Sangweni, a former prisoner of conscience in South Africa
and a member of the group's board of directors, said the report only
touched the ``tip of the iceberg'' because many abuses went undocumented
around the world.
	Coming just weeks after the U.N. World Conference on Human Rights in
Vienna, the report offered a ``reality check'' on what was actually
happening around the globe, she said.
	``Even as the Vienna conference was going on, the world's worst
violators were busy doing their work,'' she said, referring to the
conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina. ``We were scarred by the testimony
offered by some of the survivors (of the Bosnian war).''


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: U.S peace team begins Arab-Israeli diplomatic foray
Date: Thu, 8 Jul 93 13:47:05 PDT

	JERUSALEM (UPI) -- The American coordinator of the Middle East peace
process launched a round of intensive Middle East diplomacy Thursday
night by meeting Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in a bid to bridge
differences between Israel and its Arab negotiating partners.
	The coordinator, Dennis Ross, said he and other senior administration
officials held ``good discussions'' with Rabin and negotiating heads
from Israel's delegations to the Washington peace talks.
	``The president and secretary of state wanted us to come out and keep
up our efforts to find ways to promote the process and find ways to
narrow the gaps,'' Ross said. ``We've had good discussions and I look
forward to continuing to work on what we are doing right now.''
	The U.S. team, which includes National Security Council Middle East
specialist Martin Indyk, will meet Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and
Palestinian leaders Friday on the first leg of a trip that includes
visits to Cairo, Damascus and Amman. Both the Israelis and Palestinians
are wary of heightened pressure for concessions yet are anxious to
maintain American goodwill.
	State-run Israel Television reported that Rabin had accepted with
modifications a U.S. document submitted last week to pave the way for an
Israeli-Palestinian declaration of principles to streamline talks on
self-rule in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.
	But there was no official confirmation of the report and Eli
Rubenstein, head of the Israeli delegation to talks with the
Palestinians, made no mention of such acceptance in describing the
meeting with Ross.


    

From: [email protected] (JULIANA GRUENWALD)
Subject: Flynn sworn in as U.S. ambassador to the Vatican
Date: Fri, 9 Jul 93 13:12:15 PDT

	WASHINGTON (UPI) -- Boston Mayor Raymond Flynn said Friday that he
plans to continue his fight for human dignity and social justice as U.S.
ambassador to the Vatican.
	``For many years I have been an urban ambassador,'' Flynn said after
his swearing in ceremony. But now, ``I'm looking forward to a new
opportunity in my life.''
	Vice President Al Gore administered the oath to Flynn in place of
President Clinton, who was in Tokyo, as Flynn's wife, Catherine held the
family Bible. In addition to his wife, Flynn was joined by his six
children, relatives and friends, including Cardinal Bernard Law of the
Boston Catholic Diocese.
	``This is an appointment of which President Clinton is especially
proud,'' Gore said, adding that diplomatic relations with the Vatican
are appropriate because of Pope John Paul II's strong moral leadership
and ability to make a difference throughout the world.
	Before accepting the Vatican post, Flynn had expressed concern that
the job would be only ceremonial, but early in June he received
assurances from Clinton that his role would be expanded to allow him to
``deal with issues of social and economic justice'' worldwide.
	Flynn, who has served as Boston's mayor for the last 10 years, said
he is sad to be leaving a job for which he ``loved every minute of, as
tough and rough as it could be.''
	``I've given it my heart and soul,'' he said. ``Now it's time for a
new learning opportunity.''
	Flynn, a former president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, is
considered a liberal on most political and social issues and has been a
leading advocate of increased federal aid to the cities. A Roman
Catholic, Flynn is strongly opposed to abortion and has also blocked
efforts to dispense condoms in city schools to combat the spread of AIDS
and other sexually transmitted diseases.
	Flynn said his religion would not bias his ability to serve as
ambassador to the Vatican. He expects from ``time to time'' that he will
have a difference of opinion with the president but added that his first
priority will be to the ``laws of the United States for which I've just
put my hand up to uphold.''


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Mother Teresa hospitalized in Bombay
Date: Sat, 10 Jul 93 9:32:26 EDT

	NEW DELHI, India (UPI) -- Nobel Peace Prize winner Mother Teresa was
admitted to Nanavati Hospital in Bombay after she complained of
uneasiness.
	The Press Trust of India news agency said the 83-year-old nun was
hospitalized Friday night and listed Saturday in stable condition,
although no visitors were being allowed.
	The Albanian nun famous for her charity work among the poor and
destitute was hospitalized in May after breaking three ribs in a fall.
	Mother Teresa, who founded the Missionaries of Charity Order of Nuns
from her base in Calcutta, was awarded the Vatican Peace Prize in 1971
and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her lifelong devotion to the
suffering and destitute all over the world.
	Mother Teresa continues to travel the world visiting the Catholic
nuns of her organization despite suffering severe heart trouble in
recent years.
	In December 1989, she received a pacemaker in Calcutta to regulate
her heartbeat. In December 1991, she underwent an operation at the
Scripps Clinic in La Jolla, California, to widen her coronary arteries.
	Born Aug. 27, 1910, in Skopje, capital of the former Yugoslav
republic of Macedonia, to Albanian parents, Mother Teresa was granted
Albanian citizenship in 1992 and returned to Albania in April during the
pope's one-day visit to the former Stalinist republic.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Pope calls for more funds for refugees
Date: Sun, 11 Jul 93 9:46:05 PDT

	SANTO STEFANO DI CADORE, Italy (UPI) -- Pope John Paul II, on vacation
in the mountains of northeast Italy, Sunday called on the world to step
up funding for the United Nations program for refugees.
	``I appeal to governments and to the international community
generously to support the programs of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees,'' the pope said after celebrating mass in the
town square of Santo Stefano di Cadore.
	He said the United Nations is assisting 20 million refugees around
the world, noting, ``Their number is growing, while the financial
resources are insufficient.
	``May God grant his help to our brothers in difficulty and bless
those who are giving them concrete assistance.''
	Speaking after angelus prayers in the village square, the pope gave a
special greeting to a group of refugees from war-torn Bosnia who have
been granted asylum in the mountainous northern region and who had come
to attend the mass.
	He said their presence bore witness to the solidarity of Italians for
the victims of the war.
	``How can I fail to express again the wish that finally the day of a
just peace will dawn in your tormented land,'' John Paul said.
	``Even when human possibilities grow weak, may hope in God never
fail.''
	Earlier the pope, half-way through a 10-day walking holiday in the
Alps, celebrated an open air mass under an unseasonal thunderstorm and
inaugurated an old people's home named after him.
	Sunday's visit to the mountain village was the only public activity
scheduled for the pope's vacation.
	The 73-year-old head of the Roman Catholic Church is staying in a
small villa owned by the Bishop of Treviso near the hamlet of Lorenzago
di Cadore near the Slovenian border.
	The pope has been devoting much of his time to long walks in the
mountains, despite the uncertain weather, and Sunday urged people to
respect and appreciate the beauties of nature, which contain ``an echo
of the mysterious and superior beauty which is God himself.''


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Flynn's last day
Date: Mon, 12 Jul 93 5:23:13 PDT

	BOSTON (UPI) -- Raymond Flynn spent his last day as mayor of Boston
Monday as he prepared to head off to Rome as the new U.S. ambassador to
the Vatican.
	Flynn planned to submit his official letter of resignation, effective
at 5 p.m., to the city clerk. He was scheduled to fly to Washington, D.
C., Monday night for some State Department briefings before heading to
Rome on Wednesday.
	``When I get on that plane tomorrow, I can hold my head high with no
regrets,'' Flynn told friends Sunday at the Gate of Heaven Church in his
native South Boston. ``I know I did the best I could.''
	Flynn was sworn in as ambassador on Friday by Vice President Al Gore
at the White House.
	He said then he plans to continue his fight for human dignity and
social justice, and is ``looking forward to a new opportunity in my
life.''
	Flynn, who has served as Boston's mayor for the last 10 years, said
he is sad to be leaving a job for which he ``loved every minute of, as
tough and rough as it could be.''
	Flynn will be replaced as mayor by City Council President Thomas
Menino, who is one of a dozen candidates running in a special mayoral
election this fall.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Israel, Vietnam agree to establish relations
Date: Mon, 12 Jul 93 5:23:13 PDT

	JERUSALEM (UPI) -- Israel and Vietnam agreed Monday to establish
diplomatic relations between the two countries.
	Visiting Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nyen met
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, and afterward signed an agreement
of understanding with his counterpart, Yossi Beilin, state-run Israel
Radio reported.
	Nyen said the establishment of ties with the United States' Middle
Eastern ally was an influential step in convincing Washington to renew
diplomatic relations with Hanoi.
	``We hope that this will give a very good impact on the process to
normalization between the U.S. and Vietnam,'' Nyen said.
	Israel has been working to strengthen its ties with Asian countries
in order to expand its export markets.
	``Economically and politically we are speaking about a new chapter in
our diplomatic lives,'' Beilin said. ``We are reaching out to Southeast
Asia.''
	The final agreement formalizing relations will be signed in Hanoi by
Peres during an official visit expected in the next few months.
	Israel had diplomatic relations with South Vietnam until they were
broken off by Hanoi following Vietnam's unification in 1976.


    

From: [email protected] (BEN LYNFIELD)
Subject: U.S. peace team meets Peres but expectations limited
Date: Fri, 9 Jul 93 11:28:08 PDT

	JERUSALEM (UPI) -- The American coordinator of the Middle East peace
talks met with Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Palestinian leaders
Friday in a bid to spur the sluggish Middle East peace talks, but there
seemed little hope of an imminent breakthrough.
	The meeting between American coordinator Dennis Ross and the Israeli
and Palestinian officials came as Israeli helicopters blasted bases of
the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command in a
strike south of Beirut. The attack killed a Palestinian guerrilla and
wounded three others, witnesses said.
	An Israeli army spokesman said ``the pilots reported good hits on
their targets. All aircraft returned successfully to their bases.''
	Army officials said afterwards Israel was concerned about an
escalation in attacks inside its self-declared security zone border
strip in south Lebanon. On Thursday, two soldiers were killed there and
three wounded in an attack by the PFLP-GC.
	``The rise in tension is certainly significant,'' said one army
official. He declined to comment on whether Israel planned further
military steps.
	Security sources in Lebanon said another three Israeli soldiers were
killed and two wounded by Palestinian shelling Friday. There was no
immediate confirmation of the latest casualties by Israeli defense
forces.
	The incidents Friday came on the second day of a visit by Ross,
National Security Council Middle East specialist Martin Indyk and other
senior U.S. officials to follow up the 10th round of Washington peace
talks, which ended last week.
	Peres said Friday that the escalation in Lebanon was making peace
diplomacy ``more difficult,'' but added that Israel was ``anxious not to
hand over the fate of the peace process to directors of terror.''
	During their two-hour meeting, Peres urged Dennis Ross, the U.S.
coordinator of the peace talks, to focus on attaining an Israeli
transfer of health and welfare authority in the occupied West Bank to
Paletinian hands rather than spend U.S. diplomatic energies entirely on
bargaining over an American declaration of principles document.
	``The document is an agreement on how to conduct the negotiations to
reach an (peace) agreement. I would like to see a bit more than this,''
Peres told reporters at West Jerusalem's posh King David Hotel.
	Six Palestinian negotiators and spokeswoman Hanan Ashrwai afterwards
met the American team at the U.S. consulate in East Jerusalem.
	Itamar Rabinovitch, the Israeli ambassador to Washington, hinted that
agreement on the declaration of principles was not within grasp.
	``It is best not to measure each action in the perspective of a week
but rather in the larger picture,'' said Rabinovitch.
	Haidar Abdel-Shafi, the top Palestinian negotiator, said the
Palestinian agreement to meet with Ross should not be construed as an
endorsement of the document.
	``The visit by the Americans means they are concerned with progress,
but they are adopting a biased view in favor of Israel,'' Abdel-Shafi
told United Press International.
	He said the main Palestinian grievances against the document were
that it did not provide a territorial dimension to Palestinian self-rule
or refer to Arab rights in Jerusalem.
	Peres suggested to Ross that the parties should strive to achieve
Israeli-Palestinian economic agreements and implement autonomy
arrangements in the Gaza Strip first, and later in the West Bank, said
the radio report.
	In a separate development, Israeli troops combed Arab villages south
of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank Friday, searching for gunmen who
killed a Jewish settler.
	Mordechai Lipkin, 35, a resident of the Tekoa settlement, was shot in
his car as he drove alone near the Efrat settlement, army officials
said.
	Ross launched the round of intensive Middle East diplomacy Thursday
night by meeting Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
	Ross said he held ``good discussions'' with Rabin and negotiating
heads from Israel's delegations to the Washington peace talks.


    

From: [email protected] (BAHAA ELKOUSSY)
Subject: U.S. envoy in Cairo on peace talks
Date: Sat, 10 Jul 93 8:57:18 PDT

	CAIRO, Egypt (UPI) -- Top U.S. and Egyptian diplomats met Saturday,
reporting they were ``working very well together'' in their bid to push
forward the stalled Middle East peace talks.
	The U.S. delegation was led by Dennis Ross, who arrived earlier in
the day from Jerusalem, where he met Israeli leaders including Prime
Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
	``I think we have had a very detailed, intensive and useful session,''
Ross, U.S. coordinator of the Middle East peace talks, said after his
four hours of talks with Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa and Osama
El Baz, a senior political aide to President Hosni Mubarak.
	``The Egyptians and Americans are working very well together,'' Ross
said as he stood beside El Baz at a brief news conference. ``We are
truly full partners in this effort.''
	``I am going to avoid getting into any specifics because I think we
are in a stage of the process where these kinds of discussions are going
to be most productive if we keep details private at this stage,'' Ross
said.
	Ross, who also planned to visit Syria and Jordan during his current
tour of the region, said he was hoping to narrow the gap between the
parties involved in the bilateral phase of the Middle East peace talks.
	``We are making every effort to find ways to narrow the gap between
the parties, and I am very satisfied with the discussions that we have
had today,'' Ross said.
	Ross was accompanied on the trip by Martin Indyk, a National Security
Council Middle East specialist, and Aaron Miller, a senior State
Department official.
	Their Middle East mission was expected to determine if U.S. Secretary
of State Warren Christopher would visit the region to further press the
Arabs and Israelis toward progress in the deadlocked bilateral talks.
	Egyptian Foreign Ministry officials said Moussa briefed Ross on the
recent talks between Mubarak and Syrian President Hafez Assad in the
Syrian Mediterranean city of Latakia.
	Mubarak and Assad agreed at the talks to continue the peace process
despite the lack of a tangible progress.
	Assad, considered the most hard-line player in the peace process,
avoided any direct criticism of the U.S. role in peace talks and instead
praised the Clinton administration for its efforts to break the
stalemate.
	Moussa said he discussed with the U.S. delegation several ideas for
pushing foward the peace talks.
	``The U.S. delegation presented many ideas and we listened to the
American analysis of the situation as they listened to our analysis in
light of contacts made recently by Egypt with the Palestinians, Israelis
and the Syrians,'' Moussa said.
	Although Egypt is not directly involved in the bilateral talks, it
has played a main role in keeping momentum in the U.S.-Russian sponsored
peace process.
	Mubarak, whose country is the only one in the Arab world to have made
peace with Israel, met Tuesday in Alexandria with Israeli Foreign
Minister Shimon Peres.
	Peres told a news conference after the talks that Mubarak promised to
urge the Palestinians to accept a U.S. declaration of priniciples
document aimed at identifying and bridging Israeli-Palestinian
differences over such substantive questions as the status of Jerusalem
and the territorial dimension of the proposed negotiated Palestinian
self-rule.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Rebuffed U.N. missile experts leave Iraq
Date: Sun, 11 Jul 93 9:46:05 PDT

	BEIRUT (UPI) -- U.N. ballistic missile experts were denied permission
Sunday to seal Iraqi nuclear equipment as the government of Saddam
Hussein continued its stalemate over implementing the terms of the
Persian Gulf War cease-fire.
	The specialists left the country and the Iraqi news agency INA,
monitored in Beirut, said Foreign Minister Mohammed Al Sahhaf sent a
letter to the Security Council president ``regarding the position of
Iraq from the issue of Rafah and Great Day installations specialized in
producing unprohibited rockets.''
	An Iraqi Information Ministry spokesman refused to disclose the
content of the letter and said it will be published later, INA said.
	The spokesman said the U.N. team, which arrived Saturday in Baghdad 
``to seal the two installations, left Iraq after rejecting an
alternative Iraqi proposal.''
	He said Iraq ``proposed to move the equipment to a place agreed upon
by the two sides in a way to allow the U.N. experts to examine them and
make sure they were not being used until an understanding formula is
reached.''
	The spokesman expressed regret over the U.N. team's departure,
calling it ``a dramatic, unjustified and biased action.''
	The U.N. experts were to seal equipment at two installations that
could be used to test rocket motors for missiles with a range prohibited
by the Security Council.
	U.N. officials earlier expressed confidence Iraq would allow the
three-member U.N. team, led by Mark Silver of the United States, to seal
the devices.
	It was felt that refusal would jeopardize plans for a U.N. review of
Iraq's compliance with the cease-fire terms, which included destruction
of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
	Iraq asked for the review as part of discussions to lift the embargo
on Iraqi oil sales so Baghdad can raise money to import food and
medicine.
	Saddam has consistently frustrated U.N. efforts to destroy his
weapons of mass destruction since the cease-fire agreement in 1991,
sometimes giving way only at the last minute and under extreme pressure.
	President Clinton, in South Korea en route home from the Group of
Seven economic summit in Tokyo, warned that continued Iraq truculence
could lead to another U.S. attack.
	U.S. warships last month fired cruise missiles at Iraqi intelligence
headquarters to avenge Iraq's reported involvement in a plot to
assassinate former President George Bush in Kuwait in April.
	Secretary of State Warren Christopher told a U.S. interviewer the
special U.N. commission monitoring Iraqi compliance could order Saddam
to destroy both testing stations, The New York Times reported.
	``If that isn't done, the United Nations will have to react,'' he
said.


    

From: [email protected] (JONATHAN FERZIGER)
Subject: Israel warns against further attacks in Lebanon
Date: Sun, 11 Jul 93 10:06:27 PDT

	JERUSALEM (UPI) -- Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's government, stung by
the loss of five soldiers last week in southern Lebanon, issued a
blanket warning Sunday that it would strike back harshly against any
group attacking Israeli forces across the border.
	Troops in Israel's self-declared Lebanese security zone were on high
alert and reinforcements were pouring into the country's northern border
area, where more Katyusha rockets were fired from Lebanon overnight,
state-run Israel Radio reported.
	But Cabinet ministers, fearful of upsetting the delicate Middle East
peace process, tiptoed over assigning any blame to Syria for the most
recent confrontations in southern Lebanon. Instead, Rabin asked the U.S.
coordinator of the peace talks, Dennis Ross, to convey his displeasure
to Syrian President Hafez Assad.
	``The Prime Minister made clear that he didn't warn Syria,'' Health
Minister Haim Ramon said upon leaving the weekly Cabinet meeting. ``He
just made clear to Dennis Ross that Israel will be free to defend
itself.''
	From the opposition ranks, however, Ariel Sharon, the former general
and defense minister who lost his job for his zealous command of the
1982 war in Lebanon, called on the government to break off negotiations
with Syria because of the attacks.
	While it was the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, led
by Ahmed Jibril, and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah organization that took
credit for the attacks, Israel has in the past suggested that Syria,
which exercises considerable influence in Lebanon, should be able to
restrain them.
	``Nobody is taking any action from the Arab side -- not from Lebanon
and not from Syria -- to bring an end to it,'' Ramon said. ``I am not
saying Syria is encouraging it but they are not taking any steps to
bring an end to it.''
	Three soldiers killed in Friday's artillery exchange -- Cpl. Daniel
Ray, 18, Sgt. Shahar Rafaeli, 21, and Lt. Avraham Miller, 22 -- were
buried Sunday in separate funerals across the country.
	In response to the Thursday attack that left two soldiers dead,
Israelihelicopter gunships fired on one of the PFLP's strongholds in
Na'ameh village, south of Beirut. One person was reported killed and
three injured.
	Rabin told Ross Friday the PFLP and Hezbollah were ``using weaponry
that comes form Iran to Damascus,'' and he asked the U.S. envoy to tell
Assad that Israel would do whatever is necessary to ensure its security.
But he was also careful not to assign blame to the Syrian president and
said Israel was determined to continue negotiating peace with its
northern neighbor.
	``We are not making any linkage between the peace process and our
right to defend ourselves,'' Ramon said. ``This was made clear to the
American delegation and it is clear to the Syrians, we will take any
steps that will be need in order to stop what is happening now on the
northern border.''
	Israel Radio quoted military sources describing a sizeable buildup of
forces along the northern border and in the 9-mile-wide stretch of
southern Lebanon that Israel controls. There was no official comment
from the army.
	Moshe Arens, who was defense minister before Rabin's election last
year, said Israel must strike back decisively.
	``The lack of an approriate action from our side, I fear, will give a
signal or even give an incentive to the terrrorists to strengthen these
activities,'' he said.
	``There is no doubt that the Syrians can prevent these actions,''
Arens said.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Court rejects California man's extradition appeal
Date: Sun, 11 Jul 93 10:13:16 PDT

	JERUSALEM (UPI) -- Israel's Supreme Court Sunday rejected the latest
appeal from a former California man seeking to avoid extradition to the
United States, where he faces 12-year-old murder charges.
	Lawyers for Robert Manning had argued that extradition would violate
his rights because he wouldn't get kosher food in a U.S. prison or
fulfill other Jewish religious observances there. But the high court
said U.S. authorities are obligated by law to supply Manning with his
religious needs.
	Manning, who is wanted in connection with the 1981 slaying of
Patricia Wilkinson, a secretary from Manhattan Beach, Calif., has lived
on the Israeli-occupied West Bank since 1981. Israeli Justice Minister
David Libai signed his extradition order last month, but officials have
been awaiting final approval from the Supreme Court.
	But a Justice Ministry spokeswoman said no date has been set for
Manning's extradition, and that he can appeal again to the Supreme
Court. Manning's lawyer, Yair Golan, said he didn't know if another
appeal would be filed.
	Manning's wife, Rochelle, who is wanted in connection with the same
killing, has also appealed her extradition to the Supreme Court.
	Supporters of the couple have mounted a campaign against their return
to the United States, accusing the Israeli government of caving in to
Washington.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Vietnamese delegation arrives in Israel
Date: Sun, 11 Jul 93 10:54:01 PDT
    
	JERUSALEM (UPI) -- Vietnam's deputy foreign minister, Nguyen Dy Nyen,
arrived in Israel Sunday, heading the first official visit to the Jewish
state by a diplomatic delegation from Vietnam.
	Nyen was scheduled to discuss diplomatic and economic issues with
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres during the three-day visit.
	``We aren't expecting diplomatic relations right now, but we are on
the road to this,'' said Foreign Ministry spokesman Evyatar Manor.
	Vietnam first invited a delegation from the Israel Chamber of
Commerce in 1992. After several exchange visits, the countries signed
two protocols of understanding in Hanoi last March dealing with
diplomatic relations, trade and development.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Branch Davidian site sealed off for road repairs
Date: Mon, 12 Jul 93 7:05:08 PDT

	WACO, Texas (UPI) -- Work crews Monday closed the county road nearest
the remains of the Branch Davidian compound -- a growing local tourist
attraction -- to repair damage caused by heavy traffic during the 51-day
siege.
	McLennan County Commissioner Ray Meadows said less than a mile of
Double EE Rancy Road will be closed for at least two weeks.
Commissioners are considering a proposal to permanently close the road.
	The site of the compound where cult leader David Koresh and more than
80 of his followers died April 19 has become a curiosity for tourists.
As many as 125 cars have been counted driving the road in one hour.
	Gates erected at each end of the road will keep souvenir seekers and
gawkers away from the site of Ranch Apocalypse which is devoid any
structures. Crews have filled the tunnels and graded the site flat, but
the curious still come.
	Meadows said, ``I think you're going to see people out there trying
to pick up shells, rocks and anything else they can get their hands on.
I think it'll be as clean as my wife's kitchen floor before long.''
	Only officials, law enforcement personnel, and local landowners will
have keys to the gates at each end of the ranch road. McLennan County
now has legal control of the property but has not decided its future.
	T-shirt vendors are still selling their wares on roads approaching
the Branch Davidian site about 10 miles east of Waco. One vendor said
hundreds of people visit the site during the week and even more on
weekends and holidays.


    

From: [email protected] (BEN LYNFIELD)
Subject: Peres stops short of denying Israeli-PLO contacts
Date: Mon, 12 Jul 93 9:30:35 PDT

	JERUSALEM (UPI) -- Foreign Minister Shimon Peres on Monday stopped
short of denying making ``contacts'' with the Palestine Liberation
Organization after an aide to PLO leader Yasser Arafat revealed a secret
diplomatic channel.
	``The thrust of Nabil Shaath's remarks are not that he conducted
negotiations with me or with the Israeli government. He is speaking
about contacts,'' Peres said as he emerged from a meeting with
legislators.
	Shaath, Arafat's Cairo-based adviser, told the Ha'aretz daily
newspaper that the PLO and Israel were making secret contacts.
	``I do not know who met with Nabil Shaath,'' Peres said.`` I do not
know who authorized whoever met with Nabil Shaath to meet him.''
	Shaath declined to elaborate on the contacts during the newpaper
interview, saying: ``I do not want to embarass those involved on behalf
of Israel.''
	Israel has traditionally shunned the Tunis-based PLO, dubbing it a
terrorist organization and excluding it from a direct role in the Middle
East peace talks.
	Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's spokesman, Gad Ben-Ari, could not be
reached for comment, but Israeli army radio quoted aides to Rabin as 
``completely denying'' there were contacts between Israel and the PLO.
	Any such contacts would mark a further departure from Israel's long-
standing view of Arafat as an obstacle to peace efforts rather than part
of their achievement.
	A majority of Israeli legislators voted early this year to repeal a
ban on contacts by Israeli citizens with Arafat and the PLO leadership,
but Rabin has remained firm in his public antipathy toward the
organization.
	Ran Cohen, a legislator from the left-wing Meretz coalition partner,
said he telephoned a senior PLO official to check the reports of
Israeli-PLO contacts and left the conversation convinced they were
accurate.
	Cohen said the PLO official told him the contacts were being
conducted in a ``useful and positive'' spirit, but thus far had not
achieved progress, the army radio reported.
	Ha'aretz quoted a ``senior political source'' as saying the contacts
were being conducted with the agreement of both Rabin and Arafat and
were aimed at overcoming a deadlock in the Middle East peace talks,
which Israel is conducting with a PLO-backed delegation from the
occupied territories.
	The two negotiating teams have been unable to agree on a declaration
of principles to streamline their talks, due to differences over the
future of Jerusalem and the extent of self-rule to be granted in the
occupied territories.
	``If the contacts bear fruit, it will be a real bombshell,'' the
senior political source was quoted as saying. ``The public will be
shocked when things come to light.''


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Deportees postpone protest march citing security
Date: Mon, 12 Jul 93 5:30:05 PDT

	MARJ AL ZOUHOUR, Lebanon (UPI) -- Deported Palestinians Monday decided
to postpone a march toward Israeli military lines because of the
prevailing tension in southern Lebanon after a week of bloody violence
between Israeli troops and resistance guerrillas.
	``We have decided to postpone the march until further notice,'' said
Abdel Aziz Rantissi, spokesman of the remaining 396 exiles who have been
lingering in no man's land since their Dec. 17 deportation into southern
Lebanon.
	Some 80 sick deportees were to march Monday toward the Israeli
checkpoint at the Zimraya gate, south of their tent camp, to present a
list of names of those in need of immediate hospitalization.
	``We found it dangerous for our sick mates to head toward Zimraya
after the security complications which occured lately,'' Rantissi said.
	Southern Lebanon witnessed a week of violence that culminated in the
killing of five Israeli soldiers and injuring of eight in attacks by the
pro-Iranian Hezbollah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine-General Command led by Ahmed Jibril.
	The exiles have repeatedly appealed to relief agencies, in
particularly the International Committee of the Red Cross, to help
evacuate the sick. There has been no response to the appeal.
	There were originally 415 exiles dumped by Israel in southern Lebanon
in retaliation for the killing if Israeli policemen. Israel has allowed
19 to return.


    

From: [email protected] (NAYLA RAZZOUK)
Subject: U.S. envoy visits Assad in Syria
Date: Mon, 12 Jul 93 5:30:05 PDT

	BEIRUT, Lebanon (UPI) -- U.S. envoy Dennis Ross Monday met Syrian
President Hafez Assad amid Syrian vows to keep insisting that Israel
relinquish control of the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem.
	Ross, on his third stop of a mission to boost the Middle East peace
talks, met Assad at his summer residence in the coastal city of Latakia,
the Syrian news agency SANA reported in a dispatch monitored in Beirut.
	SANA gave no further details of the talks, which were expected to
focus on negotiations regarding the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and
ways to restore calm in the Lebanese-Israeli border area.
	Ross also planned to discuss a recent U.S. proposal designed to
identify and bridge differences between Israeli and Palestinian
positions in the 20-month-old series of peace negotiations.
	Although the U.S proposal has not been revealed publicly, U.S. and
Middle Eastern diplomats participating in the peace talks said a key
element was the status of Muslim-majority East Jerusalem.
	Syria's Techrine newspaper, mouthpiece of the country's ruling Baath
party, said the ``Americans do not ignore that Jerusalem is a cause
which concerns all Arabs, Muslims and Christians alike,'' SANA said.
	The newspaper warned that ``Israeli attempts to turn Jerusalem into a
Jewish entity is a dangerous stab to the peace process.''
	``Syria is determined to recover the whole Golan Heights and its
solidarity with the Arabs in regaining control of their occupied land is
a proof that Damascus is working on returning millions of Arab refugees
to their homes,'' Techrine said.
	Ross, U.S. coordinator for the Middle East peace process, headed a
delegation that included Deputy Secretary of State for Middle Eastern
Affairs Edward Djerjian and National Security Council Middle East
specialist Martin Indyk.
	Ross, who arrived Sunday in Damascus and met Syrian Foreign Minister
Farouk Al Sharaa, was to head later Monday to Amman for similar
negotiations.
	Ross and Sharaa discussed obstacles blocking peace progress, the U.S.
role as a full partner in the process and the latest wave of violence
between Israeli troops and Lebanese and Palestinian groups in southern
Lebanon that has left five Israeli soldiers dead.
	Assad on Sunday conferred by telephone with his Lebanese counterpart,
Elias Hrawi. Lebanese presidential sources told United Press
International that Assad told Hrawi about Ross's talks in Damascus and
U.S. actions in the region.
	Ross was not expected to include Lebanon in his Middle East tour.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Israeli strategist calls for withdrawal from Gaza
Date: Mon, 12 Jul 93 11:13:40 PDT

	JERUSALEM (UPI) -- A leading Israeli military strategist recommended
Monday that Israel withdraw unilaterally from the occupied Gaza Strip if
negotiations with the Palestinians break down.
	``'Gaza first' is an alternative if talks fail or if they are about
to be a failure, a dead end or a crisis,'' said Shlomo Gazit, the former
director of army intelligence and now a defense analyst with the Jaffee
Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University.
	The prospect of leaving Gaza unilaterally has gained popularity both
among politicians on the left and the right, and the Palestine
Liberation Organization has even volunteered to set up a government in
the crowded coastal enclave. But Gazit's analysis, which he circulated
to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, added some intellectual heft to the
idea.
	``I do prefer bilateral talks with the Palestinians...to reach an
interim agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip,'' he said. ``But,
bearing in mind that these talks may not lead to an agreement, Gaza
first is an alternative.''


    

From: [email protected] (BEN LYNFIELD)
Subject: Israeli justice official sacked for questioning legislator's patriotism
Date: Mon, 12 Jul 93 11:20:40 PDT

	JERUSALEM (UPI) -- A senior Justice Ministry official has been sacked
for questioning the patriotism of a liberal legislator who sought
government compensation for Arab victims of Jewish violence, a ministry
spokeswoman said Monday.
	The move throws a question mark over the future of Plia Albeck, head
of the ministry's civil cases division and a major nemesis of the
Israeli left. Albeck served as a major force in the Jewish settlement
drive in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and has repeatedly raised
eyebrows in recent years with statements viewed as callous and offensive
toward Arabs.
	``It was decided by the attorney general that her expressions reflect
behaviour that is not fitting for a public servant in relation to a
member of Parliament,'' spokeswoman Etty Eshed said.
	Albeck, responding last month to Meretz party legislator Haim Oron's
request that Arabs be compensated if they are the victims of an attack
by Jews, wrote ``it is hard not to receive the impression from
legislator Oron's letter that the State of Israel is not dear to him and
that he does not understand that, as a Knesset member, he has an
obligation of loyalty to the state.''
	Oron had written to Albeck for a legal opinion on a bill he is
preparing that would provide for similar government compensation to Arab
victims of Jewish attacks as is currently accorded to Jewish victims of
Arab attacks.
	Oron cited in his letter the 1990 killing of seven Palestinians south
of Tel Aviv by an Israeli gunman, Ami Popper.
	Albeck, in a written response, said that parts of her letter to Oron
were ``taken out of context'' and added that she was anxious to explain
the controversial quotations to Oron but had been prevented from doing
so by her superiors.
	She said she might refuse an offer of a new post with as yet
unspecified powers, and resign entirely from the ministry.
	Albeck, 55, had served in her job for more a quarter-of-a century. As
a specialist in land matters, she helped successive hard-line Likud
governments lay the legal groundwork for expanding the scope of Jewish
settlement in the occupied territories but became increasingly out of
place after a left-center government was formed last year.
	In 1991 she was reprimanded by Justice Minister Dan Meridor for
writing that a Gaza Strip resident whose wife had been killed by troops
was not entitled to compensation since he ``no longer has to support''
her and had therefore profited from her death.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Flynn bids farewell as mayor
Date: Mon, 12 Jul 93 20:16:13 PDT

	BOSTON (UPI) -- After a decade in office, Raymond Flynn resigned as
mayor of Boston Monday, and got ready to leave for Rome as the new U.S.
ambassador to the Vatican.
	Flynn, 53, submitted his official letter of resignation to the city
shortly before 5 p.m., and later flew to Washington for State Department
briefings Tuesday before heading to Rome with his wife, Cathy, on
Wednesday.
	Flynn was replaced by City Council President Thomas Menino, who was
sworn in as acting mayor minutes later and will serve until a special
election is held this fall. Menino is one of a dozen candidates running
for Flynn's job.
	Flynn spent four hours saying farewell to a long line of city
officials and employees waiting outside his office before he officially
handed over the reins to Menino, a longtime friend. The two men hugged
and shook hands, but Flynn stopped short of endorsing any of the
candidates in the race to succeed him.
	``We'll let the politics play out itself,'' he told reporters.
	Flynn, an anti-abortion Democrat and devout Roman Catholic, was
nominated by President Clinton to be ambassador to the Holy See on March
16 and was sworn in by Vice President Al Gore at the White House last
Friday.
	At one point, Flynn threatened to withdraw his name unless he was
allowed to use the traditionally ceremonial post to fight for what he
called ``greater economic and social justice'' around the world.
	He agreed to go ahead after being personally reassured by Clinton
that he would have the funds and authority to travel to world trouble
spots.


    

From: [email protected] (NAYLA RAZZOUK)
Subject: CLinton pledges peace support to Syria's Assad
Date: Mon, 12 Jul 93 15:36:29 PDT

	BEIRUT, Lebanon (UPI) -- President Clinton pledged in a letter Monday
to Syrian President Hafez Assad to continue working toward achieving a
just and lasting peace in the Middle East.
	Damascus Radio, monitored in Beruit, said U.S. envoy Dennis Ross gave
Assad the letter during a meeting. Ross is in Syria on his third stop of
a mission to boost the Middle east peace talks.
	Clinton affirmed his administration's ``eagerness regarding the peace
process in the Middle East and to play the role of the complete partner
and honest mediator,'' the radio said.
	The broadcast said that Ross, heading a delegation of Middle East
specialists, held talks with Assad on ``the various stages that the
peace negotiations went through and the possibility to push them
forward.''
	Assad said that Syria, which accepted the U.S. initiative in
launching the peace talks based on U.N. Security Council's Resolutions
242 and 338 and the principle of peace for land, will ``continue working
for the sake of a just and overwhelming peace.''
	Ross and Assad, meeting in the coastal city of Latakia, were expected
to focus on negotiations regarding the occupied Golan Heights and ways
to restore calm on the Lebanese-Israeli front.
	Ross also planned to discuss a recent U.S. proposal designed to
identify and bridge differences between Israeli and Palestinian
positions in the 20-month-old series of peace negotiations.
	Although the U.S proposal has not been revealed, U.S. and Middle
Eastern diplomats participating in the peace talks said a key element
was the status of Muslim-majority east Jerusalem.
	Syria's Techrine newspaper, a mouthpiece of the country's ruling
Baath Party, said the ``Americans do not ignore that Jerusalem is a
cause which concerns all Arabs, Muslims and Christians alike,'' SANA
said.
	The newspaper warned that ``Israeli attempts to turn Jerusalem into a
Jewish entity is a dangerous stab to the peace process.''
	``Syria is determined to recover the whole Golan Heights, and its
solidarity with the Arabs in regaining control of their occupied land is
a proof that Damascus is working on returning millions of Arab refugees
to their homes,'' Techrine said.
	Ross, who arrived Sunday in Damascus and met with Syrian Foreign
Minister Farouk Al Sharaa, was accompanied by Deputy Secretary of State
for Middle Eastern Affairs Edward Djerjian and National Security Council
Mideast specialist Martin Indyk.
	The U.S. envoy was to head later Monday to Amman for similar
negotiations.
	Ross and Sharaa discussed obstacles blocking peace progress, the U.S.
role as a complete partner in the process and the latest wave of
violence between Israeli troops and Lebanese and Palestinian groups in
southern Lebanon that left five Israeli soldiers dead.
	Assad on Sunday talked by telephone with his Lebanese counterpart,
Elias Hrawi. Lebanese Presidential sources told United Press
International that Assad informed Hrawi about Ross' talks in Damascus
and U.S. actions in the region.
	Ross was not expected to include Lebanon in his Middle East tour.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Attempt to deport murder suspect goes awry
Date: Tue, 13 Jul 93 4:57:54 PDT

	JERUSALEM (UPI) -- A former California man facing extradition to the
United States on murder charges was returned to a prison hospital
Tuesday because of poor health, officials said.
	Robert Manning, 42, an American-Israeli accused of killing a Los
Angeles secretary with a booby-trapped electrical device 12 years ago,
was taken to the airport for extradition but FBI agents and the airline
responsible for flying him to California refused to accept
responsibility for him.
	He had collapsed earlier, Israel Radio reported.
	Lawyers for Manning had appealed to Israel's Supreme Court to prevent
his extradition, but were turned down. A previous petition on grounds
that he would not receive kosher food in an American prison was also
refused.
	A medic called to the prison gave Manning a sedative after he
complained of weakness. Manning collapsed a short time later and lost
conciousness, but police decided to proceed with the extradition and
took him to the airport to be deported.
	FBI agents and TWA officials refused to accept him on health grounds
and he was returned to prison.
	Manning is wanted in the death of Patricia Wilkinson, a secretary at
a Los Angeles computer company who was killed when she plugged in an
appliance that had been rigged to explode.
	Police found the fingerprints of Robert Manning and his wife,
Rochelle, on the box in which the device had been sent. Rochelle Manning
has also appealed her extradition to the Supreme Court and a decision is
pending.
	The couple has been living in the Israeli-occupied West Bank
settlement of Kiryat Arba since 1981. Their supporters accuse the
Israeli government of caving in to Washington.


    

From:		Leona coffee (NOTES1, NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, CIT100)

Date:		07/08/93 08:54:53 AM

Subject:	ONLINE CONGRESSIONAL HEARING -- CALL TO ACTION

Comment:

	from: Jack Kessler <[email protected]>
Subject: Online Congressional hearing July 26 -- help needed!

The following announcement appears to me to be of interest -- perhaps
of vital interest -- to everyone on the networks. Congressman Markey is
one of the leaders in getting all of us an expanded and upgraded
network, and he apparently needs a flood of e-mail to the address shown
below if he is to convince Congress that we are important in this
budgetarily-austere year.

Jack Kessler
[email protected]

Subject: On-Line Congressional Hearing

     On July 26 at 9:30AM EDT, the Subcommittee on Telecommunications
and Finance of the U.S. House of Representatives will hold the first
Congressional Hearing ever held over a computer network.  The oversight
hearing on "The Role of Government in Cyberspace" will take place in
the Grand Ballroom of the National Press Club at 14th and F Streets,
N.W., Washington, D.C.  The hearing is open to the public. An open
house will be held from 3-5PM on the same day in the same location and
is also open to the public.

     Chairman Markey has asked that this historic occasion demonstrate
the potential and diversity of the global Internet.  Thirty Sparcstations
will be in the hearing room, allowing members of Congress, staff, and
their guests to read e-mail, use Gopher menus, read testimony in WAIS
databases, browse the World Wide Web, and otherwise use the resources
of the global Internet as part of the hearing.

     Some witnesses for the hearing will testify remotely, sending audio
and video over the Internet.  Audio and video of the hearing will also
be multicast over the Multicast Backbone (MBONE).  We are hoping that
C-SPAN and other traditional media will also carry the event.  *MORE
DETAILS ON MBONE AND OTHER WAYS TO WATCH THE HEARINGS REMOTELY WILL BE
FORTHCOMING SHORTLY.*

     One of the primary points that we are hoping to demonstrate is
the diversity and size of the Internet.  We have therefore established
an electronic mail address by which people on the Internet can communicate
with the Subcommittee before and during the hearing:

          [email protected]

     We encourage you to send your comments on what the role of government
should be in the information age to this address.  Your comments to this
address will be made part of the public record of the hearing.  Feel free
to carry on a dialogue with others on a mailing list, cc'ing the e-mail
address.

     Your cards and letters to [email protected] will help
demonstrate that there are people who use the Internet as part of their
personal and professional lives.  We encourage you to send comments on
the role of government in cyberspace, on what role cyberspace should play
in government (e.g., whether government data be made available on the
Internet), on how the Internet should be built and financed, on how you
use the Internet, and on any other topic you feel is appropriate.  This
is your chance to show the U.S. Congress that there is a constituency
that cares about this global infrastructure.

     If you would like to communicate with a human being about the
hearing, you may send your comments and questions to:

          [email protected]

     Support for the Internet Town Hall is provided by Sun Microsystems
and O'Reilly & Associates.  Additional support for the July 26 on-line
congressional hearing is being provided by ARPA, BBN Communications,
the National Press Club, Xerox PARC, and many other organizations.

     Network connectivity for the Internet Town Hall is provided by
UUNET Technologies.

From: [email protected] (BCN)
Subject: NEWS ROUNDUP [Jul 12] sfbay area
Date: Mon, 12 Jul 93 11:55:09 PDT
   
   San Jose police arrested one man this morning in connection with one of 
a series of ongoing pro-life, Operation Rescue demonstrations outside 
clinics where abortions are performed.
   The entrance to the Women's Community clinic at 696 East Santa Clara St. 
was clogged by demonstrators on both sides today.  Abortion foes sang hymns 
and held signs saying ``babies killed here,'' while pro-choicers assailed 
them with chants and catcalls.
   At about 9:45 a.m., police took into custody one pro-choice activist who 
stood on the sidewalk and held a sign in front of a camera operator.  The 
man was arrested for blocking the sidewalk. 
   Pro-choice spokespersons identified him as Daniel Elash, 25, of Santa 
Cruz.  Police said the man is a service worker.
   Some 60 police were officers are at the scene.
   San Jose Police Officer Bruce Toney said that for the most part, the 
activists were orderly.  He estimated that more than 150 people from both 
sides of the debate were on the scene.
   Most women coming to work or for appointments at the clinic wore 
bewildered looks or sheepish grins as activists swarmed violently around 
them, lobbing insults at one another and engaging in shouting matches.
   The action came on the fourth day of Operation Rescue's 10-day ``Cities 
of Refuge'' protests, occurring in San Jose and six cities across the 
nation.  Abortion rights activists have vowed to match Operation Rescue 
step for step, and law enforcers are prepared for mass arrests.
    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Televangelist asks Supreme Court for stay on contempt hearing
Date: Tue, 13 Jul 93 11:56:06 PDT

	WASHINGTON (UPI) -- Dallas televangelist Robert Tilton has asked the
Supreme Court to stay a Texas decree which puts him in danger of being
cited for contempt of court.
	Tilton has been ordered to appear at a state hearing July 23 to show
why he has not produced documents in a damage suit. 
	Tilton and his group, the Word of Faith World Outreach Center Church,
are being sued for damages by Norma Smith of Dallas. Smith says she and
her seriously ill husband Tommie became ``spellbound by an immense
amount of propaganda'' on television about Tilton's healing powers, and
sent a considerable amount of money to the ministry.
	Three months after Tommy Smith died of his illness, Norma Smith says,
she received a brochure from Tilton in which the televangelist
prophesied that Tommy would recover on a ``miracle day.'' She says for
months after his death, Tommy received dunning letters from the ministry
for a pledge of money he allegedly made two months after his death.
	Norma Smith sued for damages.
	Smith's attorney says she filed a contempt motion against Tilton for
failing to produce all the records requested in the lawsuit. Smith
obtained an order that requires Tilton to appear at a hearing July 23 to
show why he should not be held in contempt for failing to comply with a
Texas trial court's discovery orders.
	The 28 documents which Smith says Tilton failed to produce include
the names of some church members, along with the net worth and other
financial records of both Tilton and his church. In the course of
motions granted and appealed in the case, the Texas Supreme Court
eventually ordered Tilton to produce the documents. It is that order
that Tilton wants stayed by the U.S. Supreme Court.
	In documents filed to the Supreme Court, Tilton and his group say
they learned about the motion for the first time in the media. And they
say the whole action is posing a threat to their First Amendment rights.
	Tilton and his church have been the target of a highly critical media
reports. One report charged that the Tilton ministry -- which reportedly
raked in over $100 million a year before its recent spate of bad
publicity -- routinely throws many prayer and healing requests in the
trash before they are opened.
    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Supreme Court denies stay on contempt hearing for televangelist
Date: Tue, 13 Jul 93 13:40:29 PDT

	WASHINGTON (UPI) -- The Supreme Court has refused to delay a Texas
contempt hearing for Dallas televangelist Robert Tilton.
	Tilton has been ordered to appear at a state hearing July 23 to show
why he has not produced documents in a damage suit. 
	Tilton and his group, the Word of Faith World Outreach Center Church,
are being sued for damages by Norma Smith of Dallas. Smith says she and
her seriously ill husband Tommie became ``spellbound by an immense
amount of propaganda'' on television about Tilton's healing powers, and
sent a series of contributions to the ministry.
	Three months after Tommy Smith died of his illness, Norma Smith says,
she received a brochure from Tilton in which the televangelist
prophesied that Tommy would recover on a ``miracle day.''
	She also says for months after his death, Tommy received dunning
letters from the ministry for a pledge of money he allegedly made two
months after his death.
	Norma Smith sued for damages.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Four Kahane followers nabbed for Arab market blast
Date: Tue, 13 Jul 93 12:30:29 PDT

	JERUSALEM (UPI) -- Police arrested four young disciples of the late
anti-Arab rabbi Meir Kahane and charged them with throwing a grenade in
the market of Jerusalem's walled Old City last year, killing an Arab
shoemaker and wounding his son, officials said Tuesday.
	The youths, all aged 17, were taken into custody Sunday night and
police said they had admitted carrying out the attack to mark the second
anniversary of Kahane's assassination in New York.
	Three of the suspects, whose names were not revealed because they
were under 18, lived in Jerusalem and the fourth was from the Jewish
settlement of Tapuach on the occupied West Bank, police said.
	The grenade was tossed into a shoemaker's shop in the Arab market
last December, killing the owner, Abdel Razzek Adkayeh, 62, and injuring
his son. The case had police stumped for eight months, although at least
one reporter received a call before the blast saying action would be
taken to avenge Kahane's death.
	The four arrested youths were all members of Kahane Chai, which
splintered off from Kahane's Kach Party after the rabbi's death and is
headed by his son, Binyamin Kahane. Kach was officially banned from
Parliament for its racist policies.
	At a news conference, the younger Kahane denied that the four youths
had exploded the stolen army-issue grenade and said they were tortured
into admitting the crime. He called them ``the cream of our youth
movement.''
	Like his father he refused to condemn the killing of the shoemaker,
calling all acts of violence against Arabs a ``sanctification of God's
name.''


    

From: [email protected] (JONATHAN FERZIGER)
Subject: Ross wraps up Mideast swing with little progress
Date: Tue, 13 Jul 93 14:01:02 PDT

	JERUSALEM (UPI) -- U.S. envoy Dennis Ross, wrapping up a swing through
the Middle East to gauge prospects for advancing the nearly 2-year-old
peace process, said Tuesday he had tried to ``narrow gaps,'' but he
provided little evidence of solid progress.
	Ross, who was to return to Washington Wednesday, said no decision had
been made yet on whether U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher
would return to the region in an effort to recharge the peace talks,
which have dragged on 21 months will little progress to show.
	Ross, the U.S. coordinator of the talks, briefed Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres on his discussions the
previous day with leaders in Damascus and Amman. He also met twice with
Palestinian negotiators, who said he had suggested some ``creative
ideas'' for bridging the differences between them and the Israelis.
	``I think it's too soon to be writing obituaries,'' said Palestinian
spokeswoman Hanan Ashrawi after a two-hour meeting.
	Ross himself was tight-lipped as he crossed between East and West
Jerusalem in a consular van to meet with both the Palestinians and
Israelis.
	``We are in a process where the discussions are designed as I've s
aid before to try to narrow gaps,'' Ross said after his morning meeting
with Rabin. ``I think everybody is very serious about trying to find
those ways and at this point we're going to continue in that effort.''
	Ashrawi and Peres said the sticking points continued to center on
what the status of Arab East Jerusalem would be under a projected five-
year autonomy plan and whether Palestinians would have a measure of
territorial control over the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israel has
offered self-rule, insisting that it would retain sovereignty over the
land.
	Ross embarked on his Middle East shuttle mission following the 10th
round of talks in Washington to determine whether the Arabs and Israelis
were sufficiently motivated to move forward in the molasses-like peace
process that began in Madrid in October 1991.
	Asked whether Christopher would proceed with another Middle East
shuttle mission to prod along the talks, Ross replied: ``That remains to
be seen.''
	Complicating the Ross mission were attacks on Israeli forces in
southern Lebanon last week that left five soldiers dead. A forceful
Israeli retaliation against the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine, led by Ahmed Jibril, and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah
organization was widely expected.
	Rabin sent a message with Ross to Syrian President Hafez Assad
asserting Israel's right to ``defend itself,'' implying that Syria could
stop the attacks on Israel in Lebanon if it chose to. Aides said they
were waiting for Assad's response before striking back at Jibril and the
Hezbollah.
	Peres said that Ross had returned with only vague answers.
	Both Peres and Ashrawi said Ross and his U.S. team were trying out
some unspecified new ideas on all the parties that could form the basis
for future progress.
	``There is now fruit in the basket, which the parties have to digest,
'' Peres said.
	``What is clear is that all the parties want to continue the peace
process,'' he said. ``Nobody has a better alternative.''


    

From: [email protected] (UPI-Radio)
Subject: US & World headlines (Jul 13 3 pm PDT)
Date: Tue, 13 Jul 93 15:17:08 PDT
    
	The Census Bureau reports that a greater percentage of women are
having babies without first getting married. In 1992, nearly one in four
unmarried women between the ages of 18 and 44 had borne a child...
that's 60 percent higher than the previous decade.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Cleric says no missing Israeli soldiers still alive
Date: Wed, 14 Jul 93 6:01:59 PDT

	BEIRUT (UPI) -- A Lebanese Shiite cleric said Wednesday none of the
Israeli soldiers missing in Lebanon since 1982 were still alive and
asked world humanitarian agencies to help free Lebanese held in Israeli
jails.
	``There are no Israeli prisoners alive in Lebanon,'' Sheik Mohammed
Mehdi Shamseddine, vice president of the Supreme Shiite Council, told a
news conference at his residence in Beirut.
	Israel has been pressing for information on the fates of six Israeli
soldiers declared missing in action in Lebanon since 1982.
	They are airman Ron Arad, riflemen Yossi Fink and Rahamin Al Sheikh,
Sgt. Zakary Baumel, Sgt. Zui Feldman and Cpl. Yehuda Katz.
	Arad, who was captured when his F-4 Phantom jet was shot down in
October 1986 during an air strike on Palestinian positions in southern
Lebanon, is the only one of the six believed still alive.
	Shamseddine urged all groups still holding the bodies of Israeli
soldiers to contact international organizations in order to ``return
them to their relatives.''
	He also appealed to ``the Arabs, Muslims and all freedom-loving
people of the world to show solidarity with the ordeal of the detainees
held in Israeli cells.''
	Some 250 people, including 10 women, are held at the Khiyam prison
camp inside Israel's self-declared ``security zone'' in southern
Lebanon. The prison is controlled by Israel's surrogate South Lebanon
Army militia and frequently inspected by the Israelis.
	Shamseddine said at least 100 prisoners were being held in jails
inside Israel and many others were being held in Israeli intelligence
centers inside the Israeli-controlled border zone of southern Lebanon.
	The Shiite cleric said Israel still was holding some 150 bodies of
detainees and resistance guerrillas killed during clashes with Israeli
forces.
	He accused Israel of refusing to supply world organizations with
information about more than 150 prisoners.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Taverns argue to keep religion off street
Date: Wed, 14 Jul 93 5:34:50 PDT

	CALUMET CITY, Ill. (UPI) -- Usually it's the minister preaching
against the evils of drink trying to keep a tavern from opening up.
	In a twist on the typical scenario, several barkeepers in the Chicago
suburbs of Calumet City and Burnham are seeking a zoning change that
would keep the Christ Community Church from moving from its rented
catering hall to a shuttered funeral home.
	The tavern owners have argued before the zoning board that allowing a
church to move into the middle of a commercial strip sporting such
establishments as the Grapevine Lounge and the Little Brown Jug would
destroy the ambience of the area.
	``It has always been a business street. We prefer it be kept a
business street,'' Johnny Vasos, owner of the Contempest Lounge, said
Tuesday.
	The Rev. Carl E. King, however, said he suspects another reason for
the barkeepers' opposition -- race.
	``I think the (business argument) is a smoke screen,'' said King,
pastor of Christ Community. ``The (white) patrons are leaving the area.
Calumet City's needs have changed. There are younger families here now.
There are potential areas for ministry.''
	LaVerne Reckner, bartender at the Little Brown Jug, said she looks at
the issue strictly from a business point of view.
	``Eventually they're going to complain that we are open at 8 o'clock
on Sunday mornings and they will get us to close till noon,'' she said.
	``We would oppose any church, black or white, because eventually they
would try to limit us.''


    

From: [email protected] (GUY CHAZAN)
Subject: Russian parliament bans foreign religious organizations
Date: Wed, 14 Jul 93 10:05:31 PDT

	MOSCOW (UPI) -- The Russian Parliament voted Wednesday to restrict the
activity of foreign religious groups in Russia, a move one liberal
lawmaker denounced as ``discriminatory and anti-democratic.''
	Amending an earlier law on freedom of religion, lawmakers included a
new point banning foreign religious organizations and foreign nationals
from engaging in missionary work, publishing, advertising or propaganda.
	Critics say the new law is part of a campaign by the Russian Orthodox
Church against the many Western missionaries who have come to claim new
converts in a country where for decades the official religion was
communism.
	``The Orthodox Church has found no other way to compete with the
Western Protestant Churches in the struggle for souls than to resort to
the tried and trusted method of state pressure,'' said Vladimir Oyvin,
head of the Christian Information Agency.
	Oyvin said that according to the new law, all foreign religious
groups have to receive special government accreditation from the Justice
Ministry before they are allowed to operate in Russia.
	``This law might provoke a very negative reaction in the West,
especially the United States, where it will be seen as a breach of human
rights,'' Oyvin said.
	Moscow has recently been inundated with Western missionaries, and
billboards are plastered with posters advertising open-air sermons by
priests and preachers of all denominations promising to tell Russians
the meaning of life.
	The Orthodox Church, Russia's state religion until the 1917 Bolshevik
Revolution, has been sharply critical of such well-publicized events as
the recent trip by American preacher Billy Graham to Moscow for a series
of highly successful appearances.
	But with the new law in place, evangelizing Christians might think
twice about coming to Russia to spread the gospel. ``It is bound to
scare people off,'' said Oyvin.
	Terry Townsend, head of the Russian-American Assemblies of God, said
he was hoping President Boris Yeltsin would use his veto to scrap the
law, adding he was taking a ``wait-and-see attitude.''
	``The Western Christian community is very concerned by this,'' said
Townsend, a Californian who has lived in Russia for the last ten months.
``It goes against all the things that are happening here, with Russia
opening up to the world.''
	Townsend insisted his organization, which provides academic support
to a Bible school run by the Russian Pentecostal Union, is trying to
strengthen the Russian Church, not undermine it. ``I don't see my role
here as competing with anyone,'' he said.
	The amendment was fiercely opposed in Parliament by Father Gleb
Yakunin, a lawmaker and former religious dissident, who said it was 
``discriminatory, anti-democratic, and breached international agreements
on human rights.''
	However, the Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy said he supported the
changes, saying ``they met the hopes and needs of the Orthodox clergy...
and opened new perspectives for serving the church in contemporary
Russian society.''
	In a message to lawmakers last December, Alexy had urged them to 
``adopt legislative measures preventing the creation in Russia of a
network of quite well-to-do religious organizations.''
	In a searing article slamming the new law, the liberal daily Izvestia
said it was aimed against those organizations which for years had
campaigned for the rights of believers persecuted by the militantly
atheist Soviet regime.


    

From: [email protected] (United Press International)
Subject: UPI NEWS AT A GLANCE [Jul 14 6 am PDT]
Date: Wed, 14 Jul 93 6:51:01 PDT
	
	JERUSALEM -- U.S. envoy Dennis Ross, wrapping up a swing through the
Middle East to gauge prospects for advancing the nearly 2-year-old peace
process, said Tuesday he had tried to ``narrow gaps,'' but he provided
little evidence of solid progress. Ross, who was to return to Washington
Wednesday, said no decision had been made yet on whether U.S. Secretary
of State Warren Christopher would return to the region in an effort to
recharge the peace talks, which have dragged on 21 months will little
progress to show.
 

From: [email protected] (JONATHAN FERZIGER)
Subject: Israel reveals airlift of 246 Jews from Yemen
Date: Wed, 14 Jul 93 7:52:54 PDT

	JERUSALEM (UPI) -- Israel broke an official silence Wednesday and
revealed it had secretly airlifted 246 Jews from Yemen, ferrying them
through Europe over the past two years to avoid Arab protests that might
have scuttled the operation.
	Although the fact that Yemeni Jews had arrived in Israel was
published in the Israeli press last March, military censors kept a lid
on the details and scope of the airlift.
	They were trying to avoid a repeat of the 1984 fiasco when details of
an airlift of Ethiopian Jews were leaked to the press. It was not until
seven years later that the operation was resumed from Addis Ababa.
	The government's acknowledgment of the covert exercise -- in which the
Yemeni Jews were first taken to England and other European countries and
then taken to Israel -- also came grudgingly after a newspaper leak. The
daily Ma'ariv published details of the airlift Wednesday morning under
the headline: ``Jews from a distressed country arrive secretly in
Israel.''
	Ma'ariv editors said it was at the censors request that they did not
name the country, although it was clear from a front-page picture that
the immigrants were from Yemen. Later the censors lifted their order and
state-run Israel Radio said explicitly they had come from Yemen.
	Officials at the Jewish Agency, the quasi-governmental organization
whose mission it is to bring Jews to Israel, said they feared that the
publicity might cause Yemen to close the gates. They say some 800 to 1,
000 Jews remain in the impoverished country on the southern tip of the
Arabian peninsula.
	``It was a big surprise after I worked for two years to keep anything
from being published,'' said Uri Gordon, the agency's immigration
director. ``Suddenly I wake up this morning and I see everything is
exposed in Maariv. I'm very sorry it happened.
	Gordon said he hoped Yemeni authorities would ``understand why it is
so important for us to continue this humanitarian mission and unite
families.''
	Since the Yemeni Jews started leaving home in August 1992, 246 have
arrived in Israel where they have been housed in absorption centers in
the towns of Rehovoth and Ashkelon, Gordon said.
	Officially Yemen has allowed Jews to travel abroad as long as they
did not go to Israel, which it considers an enemy state. In practice,
few were allowed to leave until last year. As long as the airlift was
conducted discreetly, it was apparently allowed to continue.
	Officials connected with the operation suggested that the Yemeni
government, which supported Iraq during the Gulf War, was making a
gesture to the United States by freeing the Jews. Considerable U.S. and
European pressure has been exerted on Yemen to allow the Jews to leave.
	At the same time, Yemen has to balance the fact that allowing Jews to
emigrate to Israel would be condemned by neighboring Arab states.
	Nearly all of Yemen's Jewish population, about 50,000 people, was
airlifted between 1947 and 1951 to the infant state of Israel, fleeing
riots and religious persecution. No more than 1,500 Jews were estimated
to remain in Yemen, where many work as silversmiths and their
craftsmanship is highly prized.
	The Jews are a tolerated minority in Yemen and are easily
recognizable by their long sidelocks. They remain devoted to traditional
religious observance and are connected through letters and messengers to
their relatives in Israel.
	The ultra-orthodox Neturei Karta movement, which opposes the state of
Israel because of its secular nature, has been sending rabbis there for
years to support Jewish culture in Yemen and to discourage emigration.
	Through U.S. intervention, Jews in Syria were allowed to leave last
year after being barred for decades, but not to go to Israel. Many were
brought to Brooklyn, New York, where they are being sheltered by members
of the large Syrian Jewish community there.
	The ultra-orthodox daily newspaper Yated Ne'eman exposed the airlift
in March, condemning the government for placing the Yeminis in secular
absorption centers, which, they charged, prevented them from practicing
religious traditions, such as keeping kosher and observing the sabbath.
Israeli officials denied the accusation.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Suspect admits swallowing pills to avert deportation to U.S.
Date: Wed, 14 Jul 93 7:59:56 PDT

	JERUSALEM (UPI) -- A man facing deportation to California in the
slaying of a secretary 12 years ago acknowledged Wednesday that he had
swallowed a handful of sleeping pills in a bid to delay his departure
for the United States.
	Robert Manning, 42, who is accused of sending a booby-trapped
electrical device to a secretary in Los Angeles, said he collapsed
Tuesday shortly before his scheduled extradition to the United States
because he had taken at least 20 sleeping pills he had hoarded in
prison, Israel Radio reported.
	A medic called to the prison Tuesday gave Manning a sedative after he
complained of weakness. Manning collapsed a short time later.
	Israeli authorities took Manning to the airport to be deported
despite his collapse, but agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
and officials for TWA airlines refused to accept him and he was returned
to prison.
	Lawyers for Manning appealed to Israel's Supreme Court to prevent the
U.S. extradition, but were turned down. A previous petition on grounds
that he would not receive kosher food in an American prison was also
refused by the high court.
	Manning is wanted in connection with the killing of Patricia
Wilkinson, a secretary at a computer company in Los Angeles, who was
killed when she plugged in an appliance that had been rigged to explode.
	Police found the fingerprints of Robert Manning and his wife,
Rochelle, on the box in which the device had been sent. Rochelle Manning
has also appealed her extradition to the supreme court, but no decision
has been handed down.
	The couple has been living in the Israeli-occupied West Bank
settlement of Kiryat Arba since 1981. Supporters of the Mannings have
accused the Israeli government of bowing to U.S. pressure by allowing
his extradition.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Lords embark on Maastricht referendum vote
Date: Wed, 14 Jul 93 9:17:01 PDT

	LONDON (UPI) -- The House of Lords began debate Wednesday on whether
Britain should open the Maastricht Treaty to a general referendum.
	The debate was opened by Lord Robert Blake who wants the British
public to have a chance to vote on the controversial treaty before it is
ratified.
	``I believe there is a strong moral case for a referendum on
Maastricht in all the circumstances,'' Blake said. ``This is a golden
chance to show that the (politicians) are in favor of the people.''
	The treaty, which seeks to forge closer economic and monetary links
between 12 European member states, has been a political thorn in the
side of the government since it was signed in the Danish town of
Maastricht on Dec. 11, 1991.
	Disgruntled government politicians and opposition lawmakers have
challenged the treaty's progress through the House of Commons in more
than 200 hours of debate. Some politicians are concerned about how
closely Britain should tie itself to the rest of Europe. Others are
upset about the treaty's social chapter governing working conditions.
	Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, a life peer since leaving
the government, supports the call for a referendum. If she votes against
the Conservative Party it will be the first time she has done so in her
34-year political career.
	Lord John Wakeham challenged the need for a referendum on Maastricht.
A call in support of a referendum would represent ``a dereliction of our
duties,'' he said.
	``It would do the greatest possible damage to Britain's reputation if
this country would take such a step 18 months after we signed the
treaty.''
	The House of Commons has already defeated a similar referendum call.
If the Lords won majority support for a referendum Wednesday it would
not be binding -- the peers would ask the Commons to reconsider the
issue.


    

From: [email protected] (United Press International)
Subject: ``Operation Rescue'' resumes anti-abortion protest
Date: Mon, 12 Jul 93 15:57:09 PDT

	Anti-abortion demonstrators in Florida sent their children to face
arrest for violating a court order Monday on day four of Operation
Rescue's 10-day blitz of abortion clinics and providers in seven cities
nationwide.
	The ``Cities of Refuge'' campaign, which began Friday with protests
outside abortion clinics from California to Delaware, expanded to
include demonstrations outside the homes and offices of doctors who
perform abortions.
	Operation Rescue organizers said the protests would continue to
beconcentrated in and around Philadelphia, Dallas-Fort Worth, Cleveland,
Minneapolis-St. Paul, Jackson, Miss.; San Jose, Calif.; and Melbourne,
Fla..
	In Melbourne, police arrested a dozen children who violated a court
order to stay at least 36 feet away from the Aware Woman Center for
Choice clinic.
	The arrests came after police warned their parents to stay behind a
barricade marking the boundary. The adults stayed, but several sent
their children across the street to the clinic to wave American flags.
	An officer escorted 9-year-old Rachael McGlade back behind the
barricade and threatened to arrest her mother, Linda McGlade, if the
girl violated the order again.
	``I face going to jail. I face the consequences and I know what they
are but the babies have bigger things (consequences). They're getting
thrown, they're being torn to pieces,'' the girl said.
	Said her mother, ``I believe she's kicking the devil in the teeth
right now.''
	The girl was among those later arrested after several warnings. The
children were turned over to state welfare workers and then released to
their parents.
	Clinic spokeswman Patricia Baird-Wendell said the demonstration did
not interfere with its operations. A number of abortion rights
supporters surrounded the clinic and kept the doorways free.
	Dallas police made their first arrests in the Operation Rescue
operation Monday. Detective Chris Gilliam said a 16-year-old girl, her
mother and a Houston man ignored repeated orders to leave the North
Dallas Women's Clinic and were arrested for criminal trespass.
	``They were asked to leave in the presence of Dallas police officers,
and they did,'' Gilliam said. ``But they returned, and were placed under
arrest.''
	In the suburban Philadelphia community of Newtown Square, about 100
protesters showed up at the former offices of two abortion providers.
When told the doctors no longer worked there, they staged a brief
demonstration and left. Several dozen protestors also targeted a
suburban Philadelphia company that hopes to manufacture the French
abortion pill RU-486.
	There were no protests reported in San Jose Monday morning, although
police did arrest an abortion rights demonstrator for blocking a
sidewalk.
	In Jackson, about 40 Operation Rescue protesters handed out
literature on downtown sidewalks. Another 40 picketed the Mississippi
Woman's Medical Clinic, sitting in their cars during a rain storm.
	Monday's events were peaceful and protesters made no attempt to block
clinic entrances.
	``They are not doing abortions today. We would only rescue if they
were doing abortions,'' said Operation Rescue spokeswoman Michelle
Johns.
	During Saturday's protest at the Brandywine Valley Women's Center
near Wilmington, Del., the clinic's wooden porch collapsed under weight
of abortion protesters. No one was injured, but Delaware State Police
said 130 activists were arrested for trespassing. The clinic reopened
Monday.
	Several of the protests have been countered by equal, and in some
cases larger, demonstrations by abortion rights advocates, who were
drilled for several months in tactics to counter the protests and keep
the clinics open.
    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: 'Baby Jesse' in critical condition
Date: Mon, 12 Jul 93 23:59:40 PDT

	LOMA LINDA, Calif. (UPI) -- The boy known as ``Baby Jesse,'' who
underwent a second heart transplant June 16, was in critical condition
and suffering Monday from severe organ rejection.
	But Loma Linda University Medical Center spokesman Dick Schaefer said
broadcast reports that the boy, whose real name is Jesse Dean Sepulveda,
7, is in ``grave condition'' or ``near death'' are not true.
	``We wouldn't expect his condition to change for several days,''
Schaefer said.
	The boy's parents asked the public to pray for their child as he
battled for his life.
	When he was only 4 days old, Jesse became the medical center's fourth
infant heart transplant June 10, 1986, despite the Seventh-day Adventist
hospital's initial reluctance to perform the operation because the
baby's young parents were not yet married.
	Dr. Leonard Bailey, who transplanted a baboon heart into an infant
known as ``Baby Fae,'' performed the first transplant on Jesse. The boy
received the heart of a brain-dead Michigan infant.
	He underwent a second transplant June 16 and on July 6 was back in
the hospital when his body began to reject the second heart.
	Sunday, he took a ``sudden turn for the worse'' and was listed in
critical condition.
	Jesse was born with a hypoplastic left heart syndrome, as were many
of the 155 infants who have received transplanted hearts. The condition
is caused by the underdevelopment of the left side of the heart.
	Without a transplant, the condition is fatal.
	About 20 percent of infant heart transplant patients avoid rejection
of the new organ. But after his second transplant, Jesse's coronary
vessels began narrowing. He is being treated with medication.
	Hospital officials would not say if the boy could receive a third
heart transplant.
    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Oldest known cloth unearthed in Turkey
Date: Mon, 12 Jul 93 15:08:01 PDT

	CHICAGO (UPI) -- The oldest known cloth -- thought to be 9,000 years
old and at least 500 years older than any cloth previously discovered --
has been found in southeastern Turkey.
	Researchers from the University of Chicago and Istanbul University,
in advance of their formal announcement Friday, said the semi-fossilized
cloth was found clinging to a piece of bone that probably was a tool
handle.
	It was discovered in Cayonu, near the upper Tigris River and 30 miles
northwest of Diyarbakir. The two universities have jointly explored the
site for three decades.
	The piece of cloth, about 3 inches by 1 1/2 inches, probably is linen,
researchers said. Radiocarbon dating has put the age of the cloth at
7000 B.C., 500 to 1,000 years earlier than any cloth previously
discovered, the researchers said.
	They believe the cloth probably was part of a rag used to grip a
tool.

    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: First female condoms to be shipped this week
Date: Mon, 12 Jul 93 14:47:52 PDT

	JACKSON, Wis. (UPI) -- The first shipments of the Reality female
condom will begin this week to selected agencies, Wisconsin Pharmacal
Co., said Monday.
	The vaginal pouches, which were approved by the Food and Drug
Administration in May, are intended to provide birth control and
protection against sexually transmitted diseases for women whose
partners do not use male condoms. 
	Initial shipments are scheduled to go to the Philadelphia Department
of Health, AIDS Project Los Angeles, Children's Hospital in Los Angeles,
Family Health International and Planned Parenthood chapters in
Westchester-Rockland counties, New York and Passaic County, N.J.
	Public health experts hope distributing the female condom will help
reduce AIDS risk to women, many of whom feel they cannot demand that
their male sexual partners wear condoms.
	``Our case managers will offer them to female clients who have asked
for options besides the male condom,'' said Judie Klapholz, director of
education and training for AIDS Project Los Angeles. ``We will also
distribute them in our women and HIV workshops.''
	``It's providing women with an option -- giving them a sense of
control when it comes not only to sexually transmitted diseases but
pregnancy as well,'' said Klapholz.
	The product is manufactured at Wisconsin Pharmacal's own facility,
which has limited capacity. The company is shipping initial supplies to
high-priority users first.
	The company is awaiting FDA approval to sell condoms manufactured in
a British facility already making the female condoms for sale in other
countries.
	Wisconsin Pharmacal held a ceremony at its Jackson plant Monday to
commemorate the first shipments of Reality.

    

From: [email protected] (LEON MANGASARIAN)
Subject: German state bans neo-Nazi group
Date: Wed, 14 Jul 93 10:53:33 PDT

	BERLIN (UPI) -- Authorities in Baden-Wuerttemberg banned a neo-Nazi
group, raiding 23 homes of alleged members but making no arrests,
officials said Wednesday.
	Also Wednesday, suspected rightists in a Berlin suburb attacked a man
from Ghana, beating him with baseball bats before robbing him and
fleeing, police said.
	Police in the western German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg raided 23
homes belonging to members of the Alliance of Faithful for the German
Homeland, HVD, after the group was banned by the state government.
	``This is clear political signal aimed at rightists in the state...
they should know the police and intelligence are continuously hot on
their heels,'' said Frider Birzele, the state's Interior Minister.
	Birzele said the HVD was a militant neo-Nazi group with about 30
members and a larger number of supporters active almost exclusively in
Baden-Wuerttemberg.
	He said police seized documents at the HVD members' homes, but that
no arrests were made.
	Last fall, Germany's Interior Ministry banned three rightist groups
that were active in more than one of Germany's 16 federal states.
	Germany's state governments have the power to ban rightist groups if
they are active only in their respective state.
	Police in the Berlin suburb of Strausberg said Wednesday that
suspected rightists attacked a 29-year-old Ghanaian man with baseball
bats at a train station.
	The two attackers first shouted insults at the Ghanaian, who refused
to respond, police said.
	The pair then beat the man with baseball bats before robbing him of
$290 and fleeing in a car, police said.
	Also, Germany's Federal Supreme Court in Karlsruhe upheld an eight-
year prison sentence imposed by an eastern German court on a rightist
convicted of attempting to kill a Nigerian national.
	The court refused to reduce the prison term after noting the 24-year-
old rightist had been found guilty of attempting to beat the Nigerian to
death last May outside a disco in the eastern German state of
Brandenburg in order to impress a group of his rightist friends.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: County opposes plan for KKK rally
Date: Wed, 14 Jul 93 11:57:30 PDT

	KING AND QUEEN COURTHOUSE, Va. (UPI) -- King and Queen County
officials oppose plans by the Ku Klux Klan to hold a rally and cross
burning Saturday.
	The Klan has advertised the rally by distributing fliers in Essex and
King and Queen counties.
	The brochures, featuring drawings of a Confederate flag and a
traditionally hooded KKK member standing in front of a hangman's noose,
promote a ``KKK rally and cross lighting ceremony.''
	``We want only sincere white people,'' the brochures say. ``We do not
want anyone under the influence of alcohol or drugs. If you think that
you can offer a true positive and dignified image, you are welcome.''
	The fliers say the Imperial Order Knights of the Ku Klux Klan Realm
of Virginia Southern District will sponsor the event.
	Speakers advertised for the rally are Imperial Wizard Mathew Morgan
and Virginia State Leader Calvin Neighbors.
	Ira Gissen, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai
B'rith, said the Imperial Order Knights spun off about a year ago from
the Invisible Empire of Knights of the KKK, which is based near Raleigh,
N.C.,
	The Klan group consists of no more than half a dozen people, Gissen
said.
	King and Queen officials will try gentle persuasion to discourage the
organizers of the rally, Sheriff Joseph Blanton said.
	Blanton planned to contact the owner of the land where the Klan will
stage the rally to discourage him from hosting the event, and county
officials are studying local ordinances to see if they could apply any
to control or prohibit the gathering.
	If the rally proceeds and appears to be too large to be handled by
his department with assistance from deputies from neighboring counties,
Blanton said he would ask Gov. L. Douglas Wilder to send in National
Guard troops.
	``And for all we know it could be a hoax,'' Blanton added.
	Joy Baytops, head of the local chapter of the NAACP, called on county
residents to participate in a counter-rally to protest the KKK event.
	``It doesn't have to be a black protest,'' Baytops said, ``but
protest we will. We cannot allow this kind of trash in our county.''


    

From: [email protected] (United Press International)
Subject: Thirty-two arrested in California abortion protest
Date: Wed, 14 Jul 93 12:18:10 PDT

	Police arrested 32 Operation Rescue demonstrators Wednesday for
trying to block access to a Los Gatos, Calif., medical clinic where
abortions are performed.
	A police spokesman said the arrests occurred at the Good Samaritan
Great Oaks Medical Clinic after demonstrators tried to block the
driveway of a parking lot in the suburban San Jose community.
	At least 100 pro-choice ``clinic defenders'' confronted the
demonstrators, but there were no injuries reported, the spokesman said.
	Meanwhile, Santa Clara County Judge Jeremy Fogel said he would decide
in a day or two on an Operation Rescue request for a temporary
restraining order against San Jose's ordinance banning picketing within
300 yards of private homes. He set a July 29 hearing on a request for a
permanent injunction.
	Group organizers had planned to picket homes of doctors who perform
abortions.
	Wednesday was the sixth day of Operation Rescue's ``Cities of Refuge,
'' a 10-day protest in Dallas; Melbourne, Fla.; Jackson, Miss.;
Philadelphia; Cleveland; Minneapolis-St. Paul; and San Jose.
	In Jackson, Miss., three anti-abortion rights demonstrators were
arrested outside the Mississippi Woman's Medical Clinic.
	``Three were arrested for sidewalk counseling girls as they went in
the clinic,'' said Michelle Johns, a spokeswoman for Operation Rescue in
Jackson. She said about 150 people picketed outside the clinic.
	A clinic receptionist said abortion rights activists gathered outside
to ensure patients could get in and out.
	``Our pro-choice people are guarding the door. We've got at least as
many as they've got,'' said the woman, who declined to give her name. 
``Most of the time we have more than they have.''


    

From: [email protected] (NANCY KERCHEVAL)
Subject: Jackson pickets All-Star Game
Date: Tue, 13 Jul 93 17:28:17 PDT

	BALTIMORE (UPI) -- The Rev. Jesse Jackson, still decrying the shortage
of minorities in professional baseball's front offices, made a return
visit Tuesday to protest as fans crowded into Oriole Park at Camden
Yards for the All-Star Game.
	Jackson and about 150 members of the Rainbow Coalition's Commission
for Fairness in Athletics carried placards calling for increased
minority hiring and informing the public about the small numbers of
minorities in team management.
	But this time, Major League Baseball was ready for Jackson's
accusations. In a paper distributed by the baseball organization, it was
noted that since 1987, minority employment in the front offices has
increased from 2 percent to 17 percent. On-field coaching and managing
positions are filled by 20 percent minorities.
	``Jobs in Major League Baseball are generally difficult to obtain
because employee turnover is very small and job openings occur only
sporadically,'' the paper said. ``However, 14 of the clubs as well as
the MLB central offices either already actively recruit minority
candidates for job openings or are initiating equal opportunity
programs.''
	Jackson, however, said he made a return trip to Oriole Park because
he has seen little progress made since his campaign began. Jackson was
in Baltimore on opening day when President Clinton threw out the first
pitch. Vice President Al Gore was expected to arrive for the All-Star
Game.
	Marching in 90-plus degree heat, Jackson said, ``There has been no
substantial change in the arrogancy of the baseball owners with regard
to affirmative action plans and making data public on their employment
and hiring practices.
	``The baseball owners will not agree to goals, targets and
timetables, which is the law,'' he said. ``The Baltimore Orioles wanted
to agree, but the rest of the owners said it would undercut them.
	``These privately-owned, heavily- subsidized teams cannot live
outside the law. Affirmative action is the law of the land.''
	Major League Baseball, in challenging Jackson's assertions, said much
has been accomplished in the past six years. Yet, the baseball
organization acknowledged that the job is far from complete.
	In an effort to deal with minority hiring and community involvement
in the future, Major League Baseball established the Equal Opportunity
Committee, including team owners from the Chicago White Sox, Atlanta,
Oakland, Detroit, Houston, San Francisco and the Major League Baseball
director of market development.
	The committee recommended that each team include minority candidates
in all areas of employment; seek minority-owned businesses for vendors;
increase marketing efforts to attract minority fans; attempt to attract
minority investors when there is a turnover in ownership interests;
emphasize minority youth in community service activities; and enroll
their employees in an equal opportunity training program.
	``In lieu of an industry-wide standard, the committee is authorized
to monitor each club's progress to ensure that the proposed initiatives
and goals are reached,'' the paper stated.
	``By adopting tougher minority hiring standards, committing to the
utilization of minority-owned businesses, working to convert more
minority group members into baseball fans, increasing an already
impressive record of community service, and educating our employees
about the importance of these initiatives, Major League Baseball has
laid the groundwork for a program that will serve as an example for
other businesses to follow,'' the paper concluded.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Operation Rescue demonstrators arrested
Date: Wed, 14 Jul 93 17:11:21 PDT

	LOS GATOS, Calif. (UPI) -- Police arrested 35 Operation Rescue
demonstrators and two pro-choice supporters Wednesday in a noisy
confrontation at a Los Gatos medical clinic where abortions are
performed.
	Los Gatos Police Chief Larry Todd said the 12 officers he had at the
Choice Medical Group clinic were ``overwhelmed'' by demonstrators,
forcing him to call in reinforcements from nearby cities.
	He said the actions put the entire community at risk and the
demonstrators should receive harsh sentences.
	``When you have 40 police cars speeding through a community with
their sirens going there is the potential that something (an accident)
can happen,'' he said. ``I don't think anything can justify this kind of
behavior.''
	Fourteen of the demonstators arrested during the six previous days of
protest were being held on $5,000 bail.
	Wednesday's arrests ran the total to 95 during the six days of
Operation Rescue protests in the San Jose area.
	Meanwhile, a Santa Clara County judge was considering a petition for
a temporary restraining order by Operation Rescue, which claims San
Jose's ordinance banning picketing within 300 yards of private homes is
a violation of their free speech rights.
	Operation Rescue organizers had planned to picket the homes of
doctors who perform abortions.
	Judge Jeremy Fogel said he would decide ``within a day or two'' on
the request and set a hearing date of July 29.
	The arrests took place on the sixth day of ``Cities of Refuge,'' a
10-day protest by Operation Rescue. It began Friday with demonstrations
in Dallas; Melbourne, Fla.; Jackson, Miss.; Philadelphia; Cleveland;
Minneapolis-St. Paul; and San Jose.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Guerrillas fire rockets on Israeli-SLA posts
Date: Thu, 15 Jul 93 4:59:37 PDT

	SIDON, Lebanon (UPI) -- Muslim guerrillas fired rockets Thursday
against Israeli positions in the border zone in southern Lebanon,
triggering Israeli retaliatory shelling on Shiite villages, a security
source said.
	Seven Soviet-made Katyusha rockets crashed near posts manned by
Israeli troops and their surrogate South Lebanon Army militia in Ali
Taher hill at the edge of Israel's self-proclaimed ``security zone''
shortly after midnight, the source said.
	The rockets were believed fired by guerrillas of the Islamic
Resistance Movement, the military arm of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah, the
source told United Press International.
	``The rocket attack scored direct hits,'' he said, without
elaborating.
	In retaliation, Israeli artillery blasted Shiite villages on the
other side of the fence, but nobody was hurt.
	Shells fell on the outskirts of the market town of Nabatiyeh, 33
miles south of Beirut, and the nearby Zawtar, Jarjou and Arab Salim
villages.
	There was no report on casualties or damage.
	Hezbollah and other Lebanese and Palestinian groups opposing the
Mideast peace talks, stepped up their attacks against Israeli forces
last week, killing five of their soldiers and wounding eight.
	The attacks increased fears of Israeli reprisals as the Jewish state
rushed troops and artillery pieces to the border zone.
	Israel has been controlling the ``security zone,'' a 9-mile strip of
land inside Lebanon, since 1985 to protect its northern border.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Abortion opponent defies court order
Date: Wed, 14 Jul 93 10:19:12 PDT

	TITUSVILLE, Fla. (UPI) -- The leader of the anti-abortion group
Operation Rescue kept up a schedule of nationwide speaking engagements
Wednesday despite a Florida warrant for his arrest.
	Brevard County Circuit Judge John Rudd this week issued a bench
warrant for the arrest of Keith Tucci.
	Tucci was under subpoena to appear as a state witness in the trials
of 39 abortion protesters arrested for violating a buffer zone outside
an abortion clinic in Melbourne.
	His speaking engagements coincide with his group's ``Cities of
Refuge'' protests in seven cities nationwide, including Melbourne.
	Rudd said Tucci promised him last week he would be in court Monday.
Instead, he kept a speaking engagement in Minneapolis. So, Rudd signed
an extradition order to bring Tucci back to Brevard County.
	Rudd also revoked Tucci's appeal bond, imposed last week after he was
found guilty of violating the buffer zone.
	Authorities sent the warrant to Minneapolis but Tucci already had
left town for Cleveland and a scheduled Tuesday night speech.
	Wednesday morning, Tucci spoke on a television talk show in
Cleveland, an appearance that had been scheduled for some time,
according to Operation Rescue officials there.
	Bob Jewitt, director of Operation Rescue's Cleveland office, said the
court order creating the buffer zone around the Melbourne clinic is
unconstitutional.
	``The state of Florida is doing the best they can to intimidate and
harrass our people,'' Jewitt said. ``It seems someone in the state of
Florida is rewriting the Constitution.''
	Jewitt said anti-abortion activists should be allowed to hold their
demonstrations anywhere they want.
	The restrictions were imposed by a state judge when clinic operators
said they feared for the safety of workers and patients.
	The order outlined how far protesters must stay from abortion clinic
property and the homes of clinic workers. It also outlined restrictions
for chanting and material distribution during protests at the clinic.
	``The judge who came up with the order is spineless, he's not fit to
be a judge,'' Jewitt said.


    

From: [email protected] (FRANCES ANN BURNS)
Subject: N.J. Supreme Court defines sexual harassment in case involving Toys 'R' Us
Date: Wed, 14 Jul 93 16:36:57 PDT

	TRENTON, N.J. (UPI) -- The New Jersey Supreme Court outlined a four-
part test Wednesday for defining sexual harrassment, ruling judges can
order damages for even a single illegal incident if the episode proves
severe.
	The high court made the ruling in a case involving former Toys 'R' Us
Inc. supervisor Thereas Lehmann, who quit over alleged harrassment from
her former boss, Don Baylous.
	Lehmann sued Toys 'R' Us and Baylous, alleging the company told her
to either deal with her boss' conduct by herself or transfer to another
department.
	The plaintiff claimed Baylous made suggestive comments and touched
her and other female employees.
	In the most-severe reputed incident, Lehmann alleged Baylous lifted
the back of her shirt during a meeting in his office to give other
employees ``a show.''
	However, a trial judge ruled Lehmann's allegations did not add up to
a hostile work environment.
	But a three-judge appeals court disagreed, although the panel could
not agree on standards the lower court should apply.
	On Wednesday, Justice Marie Garibaldi -- the court's only woman --
issued a 48-page opinion attempting to create a new, four-part test for
sexual harassment:
	--employees must show discrimination had been due to their sex;
	--harassing conduct must be severe or pervasive;
	--conduct must create a hostile work environment;
	--conduct must represent what a reasonable person of the victims' same
sex would consider harassment.
	Wednesday's ruling also referred Lehmann's case back to the trial
court for further consideration.
	While Lehmann has not yet won her suit, the opinion apparently
strengthens the position of employees seeking to prove a company has
violated New Jersey's Law Against Discrimination.
	For example, the court said harassment victims do not have to
demonstrate psychological damage.
	Justices also found someone can be a harassment victim even if he or
she does not personally consider certain conduct harassing.
	``An extraordinarily tough and resilient plaintiff might face
harassing conduct that was, objectively viewed, sufficiently severe or
pervasive to make the working environment hostile or intimidating,''
Garibaldi wrote. ``But because of her toughness, she might not
personally find the workplace hostile or intimidating.
	``(Yet) sexual harassment is illegal even if the victim is strong
enough not to be injured,'' the justice ruled.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Poll finds conservatives unhappy with Clinton
Date: Wed, 14 Jul 93 0:08:50 PDT

	WASHINGTON (UPI) -- A non-partisan public policy group said President
Clinton faces strong conservative opposition to his policies, despite
attempts to project a ``New Democrat'' moderate image.
	A survey of approximately 4,000 people conducted by the Conservative
Caucus of Vienna, Va., found Clinton receiving approval for his first
100 days from only 1.9 percent, while 91.6 percent disapproved.
	TCC members polled set as their highest policy priorities: opposition
to D.C. statehood, defeat of higher taxes, and rejection of homosexuals
in the military.
	There was an across-the-board rejection of the president's policies.
	Ending the ban on homosexuals in the military was opposed by 93.5
percent and 90.8 percent believe that the Clintons are ``captives of the
radical homosexual movement and other left-wing special interests.''
	Ninty-two and seven-tenths percent believe Clinton's budget plan
would hurt the economy, while 84.4 percent think it would hurt them
personally.
	Clinton's deep cuts in defense will weaken national security in the
view of 81.6 percent. Aid to Rusia won the support of only 5.9 percent,
while 84.3 percent were flatly opposed.
	``Government controlled, rationed health care'' was rejected by 90.8
percent and 97.9 percent reject Clinton-endorsed proposals to make
Washington, D.C., the 51st state.
	The Conservative Caucus provides stances in public policy campaigns
to cut federal taxes, spending and regulations while maintaining
America's national security capabilities.


    

From: [email protected] (BCN)
Subject: ABORTION-66: OPERATION RESCUE RALLY / SAN JOSE (BCN)
Date: Thu, 15 Jul 93 0:06:57 PDT
   
   SAN JOSE (BCN)
   A noisy crowd of pro-choice demonstrators in front of the San Jose Civic 
Auditorium dispersed quietly tonight, just minutes before the Operation 
Rescue members inside the building filed out.
   San Jose police estimated the crowd outside to be around 300 at 9 p.m.  
Officer Louis Quesada said the pro-choice demonstrators left on their own 
without any police action.  Only about five protestors remained outside at 
9:30 p.m.  
   Operation Rescue spokeswoman Sue Finn said the number of people inside 
the auditorium was around 900.  Police were out in force to keep both sides 
in line, but by the end of the evening just four people had been arrested.
   Sgt. Robert Beams said the two women, one man and one male juvenile who 
were taken into custody were pro-choice demonstrators.  They were arrested 
on assault charges for spitting at Operation Rescue members.  One woman 
resisted arrest.
   The rally started at about 7:30 p.m. with music, prayer and a graphic 
pro-life film.  Randall Terry, Operation Rescue's founder, spoke for about 
an hour.  His speech was punctuated with humor and sarcasm.  He ridiculed 
politicians and celebrities, calling Bill and Hillary Clinton ``Ahab and 
Jezebel'' and Barbra Streisand an ``airhead.'' 
   Terry called the audience members ``mamby-pamby, panty-waisted 
Christians'' and called upon them to take more action in their cause. 
   ``We have been a grotesque image of what it means to be Christians,'' he 
said.  ``Our goal must be to build a Christian nation...because the only 
other choice is a pagan nation.''
   He warned the audience that the country is in a ``crisis'' and if 
Christians don't act now to defeat paganism ``a person like Adolf Hitler 
will come back.''
   Thursday is the seventh day of Operation Rescue's 10-day ``Cities of 
Refuge'' campaign.  Fliers handed out at tonight's rally indicated 
Operation Rescue's plans to picket the homes of two doctors in Cupertino 
and Saratoga tomorrow morning. 


    

From: [email protected] (PAUL SHINDMAN)
Subject: Israeli customs nips smuggling spree
Date: Thu, 15 Jul 93 6:00:57 PDT

	JERUSALEM (UPI) -- Striking customs agents, ordered back to work by
the government, nabbed dozens of would-be smugglers Thursday who tried
to sneak home with VCRs, compact-disc players and other high-priced
electronic gadgetry.
	Fifteen agents surprised passengers who expected to exploit the 8-day
strike and waltz through the airport without paying Israel's sky-high
import duties. Customs spokeswoman Idit Lev said they X-rayed every
piece of baggage off the first two jumbo jets landing at Ben Gurion
International Airport outside Tel Aviv.
	Officials patted themselves on the back after catching some of the
bigger fish who were smuggling in highly taxed electronic merchandise.
One enterpreneur was loaded down with fax machines, and a check of his
passport revealed it was the third time he had returned to Israel in one
week.
	``Everyone was checked,'' said Lev. ``We had some big successes.''
	A passenger traveling under a U.S. passport had two bags loaded with
20 compact disc players and 4 complete stereo systems.
	``He had nothing else,'' Lev said. ``Not a shirt, no socks, nothing.''
	Passengers who tried to smuggle one item were hit with a fine, plus
the up to 70 percent customs and tax charges on their former bargains.
Those suspected of smuggling commercial quantities were turned over to
the police.
	Nearly 60,000 civil servants walked off the job eight days ago to
back wage demands, paralyzing government ministries and preventing
Israelis from getting everything from passports to building permits.
	The government ordered them back to work after newspapers showed
front-page pictures of grinning Israelis lugging contraband-laden
luggage through the airport terminal.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Let us pray
Date: Thu, 15 Jul 93 7:58:35 PDT

	SAGINAW, Mich. (UPI) -- Pop in a tape, sit back -- and pray.
	It's called The Rosary Tapes and it's the brainchild of two Michigan
men who want to make praying more fun for the nation's 59 million
Catholics.
	Audio production company owner Bill Gildenstern of Saginaw and ad
jingle composer John Giaier of Troy have produced three different
cassettes featuring prayers set to music. The tapes are designed mainly
for people who want to say the rosary in their cars.
	They already have sold thousands of the tapes through mail orders.
Recently, they signed a deal with Ave Maria Press, a non-profit
religious publisher at the University of Notre Dame, to distribute the
tapes to about 2,000 religious bookstores nationwide.
	Don't expect to hear any heavy metal on those rosary tapes. The
background music is rock-and-roll, but it's all love songs, Gildenstern
said.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Judge rules ex-priest's videotaped confession may be used in trial
Date: Thu, 15 Jul 93 14:39:32 PDT

	BOSTON (UPI) -- A judge in Boston ruled Thursday that a videotaped
confession that former Roman Catholic priest James Porter made to
investigators last year may be admitted into evidence at his upcoming
sexual molestation trial.
	Suffolk Superior Court Judge Robert Steadman denied a motion by
Porter's defense attorney to supress the videotape, as well as
statements made to the FBI during an investigation of a kidnapped
Minnesota boy in 1989, in which Porter was never charged.
	Steadman also denied a motion to have each complaint against Porter
tried separately.
	Porter, 58, who left the priesthood in 1973 and moved to Minnesota,
is accused of molesting dozens of young boys while he served as a priest
in southeastern Massachusetts during the 1960s and early 70s. A court
upheld 41 of 46 sex molestation charges against Porter earlier this
year, but the state has since decided to prosecute only 28 of those
counts.
	According to court records, Porter admitted to FBI agents in the 1989
interview that he molested 40 to 50 boys while he served in North
Attleboro, Mass., between 1962 and 1969. Porter told investigators,
however, that medical treatment helped him and he no longer molested
children.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: 100 arrested as Operation Rescue takes to streets
Date: Thu, 15 Jul 93 11:11:22 PDT

	PHILADELPHIA (UPI) -- Police Thursday arrested about 100 abortion foes
who blocked a half dozen intersections in downtown Philadelphia as part
of a nationwide protest.
	The non-violent demonstrations were the latest chapter in a 10-day
protest organized by Operation Rescue, a national anti-abortion group.
	Philadelphia is one of seven American cities targeted by the group
for protests ranging from abortion clinic blockades to picketing outside
the homes of doctors who provide abortions.
	During Thursday's demonsrtation, police carried the protesters to
vans and drove them to the police station, where they were charged with
blocking a highway and released.
	Those not arrested regrouped outside the Philadelphia office of
Planned Parenthood, where they clashed verbally with a large crowd of
abortion rights advocates.
	Police kept the two sides separated with barricades and there were no
further arrests.
	One anti-abortion demonstrator, who admitted to being 84-years old,
said there was plenty of precedent for people getting arrested for a
just cause.
	``Our Lord was arrested, St. Paul was always arrested,'' he said. 
``The greatest honor God ever gave you in life was to be arrested trying
to keep babies from getting murdered.''
	But Joan Combs, the executive director of Planned Parenthood, said
the arrests sent a message to the protesters ``that lawlessness is not
welcome in this city and that Philadelphia is pro choice.''
	Police Commissioner Richard Neal said all city abortion clinics have
remained open during the protests.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Four arrested in Operation Rescue demonstration
Date: Thu, 15 Jul 93 17:06:52 PDT

	LOS GATOS, Calif. (UPI) -- Four members of Operation Rescue were
arrested Thursday only hours after the organization lost a court battle
to overturn San Jose's 300-foot ban on residential picketing.
	San Jose police said the three adults and one juvenile were arrested
for picketing in front of the house of a doctor who performs abortions.
	The four were charged with violating the ``bubble law'' on picketing
in a residential area.
	Earlier in the day, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Jeremy
Fogel denied a petition for a temporary restraining order by Operation
Rescue, which claimed the ordinance banning picketing in residential
areas was a violation of free speech rights.
	Fogel ruled the law was constitutional, citing a recent U.S. Supreme
Court decision on a similar ordinance.
	On Wednesday, police arrested 35 Operation Rescue demonstrators and
two pro-choice supporters in a noisy confrontation at a Los Gatos
medical clinic where abortions are performed.
	Later that evening, four pro-choice supporters were taken into
custody during a protest outside the San Jose Civic Auditorium where
Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry was speaking to his followers.
	Nearly 100 people have been arrested in San Jose since Operation
Rescue began its 10-day ``Cities of Refuge'' protest. The organization
is staging similar demonstrations in Dallas; Melbourne, Fla.; Jackson,
Miss.; Philadelphia; Cleveland; and Minneapolis-St. Paul.


    

From: [email protected] (BEN LYNFIELD)
Subject: Palestinian negotiator calls for democratic reforms in PLO
Date: Thu, 15 Jul 93 9:28:06 PDT

	JERUSALEM (UPI) -- The top Palestinian peace negotiator called
Thursday for democratic reforms in the Palestine Liberation Organization
that would give more influence to hard-line Palestinian factions and
reduce the clout of Yasser Arafat.
	``The PLO is a coalition of political forces and I wish to see them
operate in a coordinated manner,'' Haidar Abdel-Shafi, chief of the
Palestinian negotiating team, told United Press International in a
telephone interview.
	``They should not have conflicting views again and again on the peace
talks and what is to be done.''
	He mentioned the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a
hard-line group which opposes the negotiations, as a faction that should
be given more involvement in decision-making.
	``Arafat would continue to be at the helm of authority, but with more
involvement from other people,'' Abdel-Shafi said.
	``The only way of resolving conflicting views is to resort to the
democratic process, which means in the executive branch that you take
your views by majority or by consensus,'' he said.
	Abdel-Shafi's remarks appeared to reflect concern that Arafat, who
heads Fatah, the largest PLO faction, will not take into account the
views of hardliners during an expected period of American and Arab
pressure to make concessions to Israel.
	``I think we are facing a crucial moment and it is fitting to have
resolutions made on as wide a basis as possible,'' Abdel-Shafi said.
	U.S. envoy Dennis Ross wound up a visit to the region Tuesday with
little evidence of progress in narrowing Israeli-Palestinian
differences, but vowing that America would continue the effort.
	The United States is seeking to bridge differences over self-rule
arrangements in the occupied territories and has submitted to both
parties a declaration of principles agreement to streamline the
negotiations.
	Abdel-Shafi views the U.S. document as an unacceptable basis for
negotiations since it does not mention Palestinian claims to East
Jerusalem or specify a territorial dimension for self-rule arrangments
that could lead to statehood.
	Abdel-Shafi, who is not linked to any PLO faction but enjoys
considerable prestige as a veteran nationalist, differed with Arafat's
April decision to send Palestinian negotiators back to the peace table
despite Israel's refusal to repatriate Muslim militants it deported to
Lebanon in December. But under pressure from Arafat, he relented and
attended the ninth and 10th rounds.
	``I still feel that 10 rounds without progress is enough reason to
suspend the talks,'' he said.

From: [email protected] (JONATHAN FERZIGER)
Subject: More Yemeni Jews head for Israel amid furor over airlift disclosure
Date: Thu, 15 Jul 93 14:31:23 PDT

	JERUSALEM (UPI) -- Another 34 Jews from Yemen arrived in Israel
Thursday amid rising outrage over the public disclosure of the long-time
covert emigration operation and widespread concern that the airlift
would be halted.
	The newcomers, who were housed in Europe for some time after leaving
their impoverished country, were met with celebratory blasts from ram's
horns by ecstatic relatives who came to greet them at Ben Gurion
International Airport. They joined 246 other Yemeni Jews who arrived in
Israel secretly over the past year, but whose presence was publicized
only Wednesday.
	Israeli newspapers gave blanket coverage to the operation Thursday,
picturing the new immigrants in colorful native dress on their front
pages and unloading details of the airlift that were known but they had
agreed to keep hidden for years.
	Israelis of Yemeni descent and an array of politicians including
former Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir harshly criticized the government
for allowing the story to come out after it was censored for the past
four years. An estimated 800 to 1,000 Jews still remain in the country
at the tip of the Arabian peninsula.
	``We simply have to hope for God's mercy that it will not cause great
damage to the immigration itself and also to the Jews who are hostages
there,'' said Shamir. ``It hurts a lot.
	The former prime minister said he insisted while he was in office up
to a year ago that the secret operation be handled with the utmost
delicacy to avoid a repeat of the Ethiopian airlift in 1984 that was
frozen because of a press leak.
	``We have to give the censor the ability and power to prevent
publications that cause serious damage to the most essential matters,''
he said.
	Sources within the government, however, said the censor apparently
allowed a ``controlled leak'' of the information because so many of the
details had already appeared in both the Israeli and foreign press.
	In particular, rival ultra-orthodox Jewish sects had published a
stream of stories charging that the largely secular Israeli government
was encouraging the Yemeni Jews to relax their strict religious
observances.
	The source also said the government had made an assessment that even
if the immigration was stopped for a little while, it would soon resume
because it is in Yemen's interest in warming relations with the United
States and other Western nations to let the Jews out.
	``There will be a slowdown, very temporary,'' the source said. ``It's
not the first time that the story came out and apparently had no long-
term effect.''
	That appeared to be borne out by a report broadcast on state-run
Israel Radio, quoting an unnamed Yemeni official who said his country
would not block Jews from traveling directly to any country besides
Israel.
	The army spokesman's office said it would not comment on why the
military censor allowed publication of the story.
	Since the Yemeni Jews started leaving home in August 1992, 246 have
arrived in Israel where they have been housed in absorption centers in
the towns of Rehovoth and Ashkelon, officials said.
	Yemen's stated-policy has been to allow Jews to travel abroad as long
as they did not go to Israel, which it considers an enemy state. In
practice, few were allowed to leave until last year. As long as the
airlift was conducted discreetly, it was apparently allowed to continue.
	Nearly all of Yemen's Jewish population, about 50,000 people, was
airlifted between 1947 and 1951 to the infant state of Israel, fleeing
riots and religious persecution.
	The Jews are a tolerated minority in Yemen and are easily
recognizable by their long sidelocks. They remain devoted to traditional
religious observance and are connected through letters and messengers to
their relatives in Israel.
	The ultra-orthodox Neturei Karta movement, which opposes the state of
Israel because of its predominantly secular nature, has been sending
rabbis there for years to support Jewish culture in Yemen and to
discourage emigration.


    

From: [email protected] (SID BALMAN Jr.)
Subject: U.S. envoys tell Christopher to prepare for Mideast trips
Date: Thu, 15 Jul 93 14:39:32 PDT

	WASHINGTON (UPI) -- Top U.S. envoys to the Middle East peace process
told their boss Thursday upon return from the region that tough choices
lie ahead and intense American shuttle diplomacy will be needed to keep
everyone on track, U.S. officials said.
	Assistant Secretary of State Ed Djerejian and special coordinator for
the peace talks Dennis Ross briefed Secretary of State Warren
Christopher on their meetings with Israelis, Palestinians, Syrians,
Lebanese and Jordanians during a short chat Thursday morning, they said.
	They told Christopher the parties realize it's time to get down to
brass tacks and that success in the peace talks will likely require
extensive coaching in the region by senior American officials.
	``Ambassador Ross stressed to the secretary in this initial report on
his travels that the parties in the negotiations clearly want to
continue the process that began in Madrid...they want the United States
to continue tplay a role as an active intermediary,'' State Department
spokesman Michael McCurry said.
	``But it's very clear to achieve that progress, substantial work lies
ahead that will take substantial amounts of time and probably will
require visits by not only the secretary but others over the course of
thet several months.''
	Christopher heard them out, U.S. officials said, and asked them to
return later Thursday to continue discussions and to talk more about the
usefulness of a visit to the region next week by the secretary of state.
	``I think the secretary intends to have another meeting later today
with Ambassador Ross and look at the question of how best to assist the
process that could conceivably involve travel by the secretary,''
McCurry said.
	He said that Arab and Jew, after nearly two years of unfruitful
talks, are now at a point where ``hard choices have to be made.''
	Christopher would consider travelling to the region next week if he
could help them ``identify'' and ``focus'' on their choices, McCurry
said.
	``The secretary wouldl that would be a profitable intervention by
him,'' McCurry said.
	Christopher travels late next week to Singapore for the annual
meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nats and to Australia
for bilateral discussions.
	If Christopher decides to visit the Middle East, senior U.S. and
Israeli officials said, he would probably do it early next week and then
continue on to Singapore.
	``It seems possible and likely he will go,'' an Israeli diplomat in
Washington said under conditions of anonymity. ``But we have not been
formally notified.''


    

From: [email protected] (BCN)
Subject: ABORTION PICKETING ORDER / SAN JOSE (BCN)
Date: Thu, 15 Jul 93 15:57:17 PDT
 
   SAN JOSE (BCN)
   A Santa Clara County Superior Court judge today denied a request by anti-
abortion protesters to stop San Jose immediately from enforcing its ordinance  
against residential picketing.
   Judge Jeremy Fogel said in his ruling that arguments offered by an attorney  
for two demonstrators involved in a protest Saturday in San Jose had not met 
the burden of proof for him to issue an immediate order.
   Fogel said in his ruling that he was satisfied that the San Jose ordinance,  
which prohibits picketing that is both targeted at and within 300 feet of  
residential dwelling,is ``facially constitutional'' within parameters set in a  
1988 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
   ``The Court concludes that plaintiffs have not met the burden of proof which  
would entitle them to the issuance of the temporary restraining order they  
seek'' Fogel wrote in a notice of ruling released by the court today.
   Fogel said his decision was being made ``without prejudice'' to a later 
hearing on the merits of the case.
   Craig Cornell, an attorney for plaintiffs Martha Reeves and Timothy Wilson,  
said he was disappointed that they didn't prevail but the plaintiffs will  
proceed with the case anyway.
   Cornell said the plaintiffs will have another chance to argue their cause 
at a preliminary hearing scheduled in Fogel's court at 1:30 p.m. July 29.  
``But obviously that doesn't help us in the immediate situation,'' he added.
   San Jose City Attorney Joan Gallo said the city was ``very, very pleased'' 
with Fogel's decision.
   Fogel said, however, that the case raises questions about the kind of  
targeting the ordinance prohibits and about the choice of 300 feet as the size 
of the protective ``bubble zone.''  He asked attorneys to address the issues 
when he hears the plaintiffs' request for a preliminary injunction at the July 
29 hearing.
   Gallo said that in setting the 300-foot limit, the city examined 
restrictions on picketing around foreign embassies in Washington, D.C., and 
around courthouses in other cities and noted that city zoning rules consider 
that anything happening within 300 feet of a residence has an impact on it.
   ``We're applying the ordinance carefully and thoughtfully, and we think it 
will survive challenge,'' Gallo concluded.
   Cornell said demonstrators will now test the San Jose ordinance by 
including on their picket signs the names and perhaps the addresses of 
residents whose abortion practices they are protesting.
   ``We are going to more directly and squarely challenge the ordinance and how  
it's applied,'' Cornell said.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Flynn meets Vatican Secretary of State
Date: Sat, 17 Jul 93 11:07:05 PDT

	VATICAN CITY (UPI) -- New U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Raymond
Flynn discussed U.S. policy in Somalia with Vatican Secretary of State
Cardinal Angelo Sodano on Saturday.
	Flynn, 53-year-old former mayor of Boston, was received in the
Vatican by Sodano, Pope John Paul II's righthand man, only two days
after arriving in Rome Thursday to take up his post.
	Chief Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro said Flynn gave the 65-year-
old Secretary of State a copy of the letter of accreditation which he
will formally present to the pope at an audience expected to be held
after the summer season.
	The pope returned from a 10-day vacation in the Italian Alps late
Friday and immediately took up residence at the papal summer palace in
Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome.
	Navarro said Flynn thanked Sodano for receiving him so shortly after
his arrival. He said they discussed bilateral questions and also
international questions such as the situations in Somalia and Bosnia.
	Flynn told reporters Friday he planned ``to explain the U.S. position
on Somalia'' during his meeting with the Secretary of State.
	``Ambassador Flynn expressed the desire of the United States to
collaborate with the Holy See on major themes of the hour,'' Navarro
said.
	He said the new ambassador told Sodano that President Clinton was
looking forward to meeting the pope in Denver during John Paul's visit
to the city in mid-August to celebrate the Catholic Church's World Youth
Day.
	Flynn said on arrival in Rome Thursday he planned ``to explain to the
pope the position of my country on Somalia'', where U.S. troops have
been spearheading the U.N. peacekeeping force.
	He said he hoped ``to be able to work with the Holy Father for social
justice in the world,'' and would work ``to build a bridge between the
United States and the Vatican.''
	The pope has refrained from public comment on the U.S. action in
Somalia. But the Vatican city newspaper L'Osservatore Romano has
strongly criticized the United States for resorting to bombing raids in
the Somali capital of Mogadishu instead of following the path of
dialogue and negotiation.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Church asks Salvadoran officials to admit errors
Date: Sun, 18 Jul 93 14:43:55 PDT

	SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (UPI) -- A Roman Catholic Church official
Sunday welcomed the U.S. government's admission of serious errors
committed during the Salvadoran civil war and asked Salvadoran officials
to do the same.
	Archbishop Arturo Rivera y Damas said it was important that the U.S.
State Department had ordered its own investigation in the wake of a
United Nations Truth Commission report on atrocities committed during
the 12-year conflict between rebels and the U.S.-backed government.
	The U.S. government acknowledged that State Department officials
showed negligence in investigating war-time abuses and then provided
false information to Congress and the U.S. public.
	Rivera y Damas said it was an example that Salvadoran officials
should follow.
	``We are happy to note that in the United States the Truth Commission
is being taken seriously. This contrasts with the attitude assumed by
our highest authorities, who have systematically rejected it,'' the
prelate said during his homily at San Salvador's Church of the Sacred
Heart.
	The Truth Commission was formed under the U.N.-mediated peace accord
that brought a formal end to El Salvador's civil war early in 1992.
	The commission's report blamed the Salvadoran government and its
allies for most of the abuses committed during the war in which an
estimated 75,000 people were killed.
	The Salvadoran government has maintained that charges it
systematically violated human rights during the war were the result of
false accusations drummed up by an international leftist conspiracy.
	Senior officials and military officers continue to deny the existence
of well-documented massacres and have accused the Truth Commission of
favoring the former rebels of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation
Front.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Four Korean nuns drown, three missing
Date: Mon, 19 Jul 93 4:29:06 PDT

	SEOUL, South Korea (UPI) -- Four nuns drowned and three others were
missing after a swimming accident Monday at a resort on the eastern
coast of South Korea, the domestic Yonhap news agency said.
	A group of 13 nuns from a cloister in Seoul was swimming at around
3:30 p.m. along a beach in Samchok, 120 miles east of the capital, when
one nun became swept away by the waves, authorities told Yonhap.
	Other nuns rushed to her aid, but they also became swallowed up by
the sea, officials said.
	Four bodies were recovered and rescue workers were searching for
three other missing nuns, the officials said.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Operation Rescue leader released from jail
Date: Fri, 16 Jul 93 7:29:20 PDT

	NORRISTOWN, Pa. (UPI) -- The head of Operation Rescue was released
from a Pennsylvania jail Thursday after he agreed to appear in a Florida
court next week.
	The Rev. Keith Tucci was arrested Wednesday after he addressed
Operation Rescue supporters at a King of Prussia hotel outside of
Philadelphia, one of the cities targeted for the groups 10-day ``Cities
of Refuge'' campaing. Tucci returned there to address followers again
Thursday night after his release.
	Tucci was being held under $200,000 bail on a fugitive warrant from
Florida. There he has been held in contempt for failing to appear as a
witness at the trial of 39 Operation Rescue members who are accused of
violating a court-imposed buffer zone around a Melbourne, Fla. abortion
clinic.
	Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Stanley Ott agreed to release
Tucci on his own recognizance on the condition he appear in Brevard
County court in five days.
	Tucci's local attorney James Owens, said Tucci's arrest was an
attempt to muzzle him.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: State abortion rights group names new executive director
Date: Fri, 16 Jul 93 8:30:56 PDT

	PHILADELPHIA (UPI) -- The state chapter of the National Abortion
Rights Action League has a new executive director.
	NARAL of PA Board Vice-Chairman William Green said Friday that
Elizabeth Ann Terry had been appointed to replace Diane Van Reed, who
resigned.
	Green said it was a coincidence that Terry was named just as a 10-day
national anti-abortion action by Operation Rescue was coming to a close
in seven cities, including Philadelphia. However, under the
circumstances, he called the appointment ``timely.''
	Terry, a native of Fayette County, has been active in statewide and
Philadelphia-area community development and civil rights for over 20
years. Most recently, she was co-director of the Delaware Valley Council
of Agencies, a human services umbrella organization.
	Green said that the board hoped Terry would make lobbying the state
legislature her top priority.
	``Her main job would be to get to state lawmakers who are on the
fence or anti-choice,'' Green said.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Dozens arrested as Operation Rescue takes to streets
Date: Fri, 16 Jul 93 10:13:12 PDT

	YARDELY, Pa. (UPI) -- Operation Rescue members showed up outside an
abortion clinic in Bucks County Friday, forcing cancellation of
appointments.
	About 100 abortion foes and a similar number of the clinic's
supporters staged a noisy but essentially non-violent confrontation
outside the Yardley Birth Center from 9 a.m. until about 11:30 a.m.
	Yardley police were prepared to make arrests, but Chief Tom
Krystkiewicz said none were necessary.
	``There was some verbal confrontation between the two sides, but
that's about all,'' he said.
	Operation Rescue is in the eighth day of a 10-day ``Cities of Refuge''
campaign against abortion clinics in seven cities.
	Thursday a sit-down at Philadelphia intersections brought nearly 100
arrests. There have been periodic arrests during other demonstrations
but largely the campaign has been peaceful.
	Thursday evening Operation Rescue leader, the Rev. Keith Tucci,
addressed supporters at a suburban Philadelphia hotel, shortly after his
release from jail. He had been arrested on a fugitive warrant from
Florida and was freed on his own recognizance after promising to appear
in a Florida court next week.
	Arrests were also made Thursday in suburban Fort Worth, Texas. About
30 people were taken into custody when they tried to block the entrance
of a clinic in White Settlement.
	In San Jose, Calif. abortion foes were in court, but to hear a judge
turn down their request for an injunction. They argued a city ordinance
banning picketing within 300 yards of private homes violated their free
speech rights.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Operation Rescue: A blessing in disguise
Date: Fri, 16 Jul 93 16:20:27 PDT

	SAN JOSE, Calif. (UPI) -- The head of San Jose's Planned Parenthood
clinics said Friday the weeklong anti-abortion demonstrations by
Operation Rescue have actually helped her organization.
	Linda Williams, head of Planned Parenthood Inc. in Santa Clara and
San Benito counties, said business has been brisk at her facilities
despite the efforts to disrupt services by Operation Rescue.
	``In an odd twist this may be the best thing that has happened to us,
'' Williams said. ``We have new clients, new supporters and new donors.
That is not really the result I had anticipated.''
	Williams had been in contact with Planned Parenthood officials in
Houston, site of last year's Republican Convention, in an effort to
prepare for Operation Rescue's 10-day ``Cities of Refuge'' campaign.
	The organization's Houston offices were targeted by Operation Rescue
and other members of the Christian right during the Republican
Convention.
	``They sent us information on how they trained their volunteer clinic
defenders,'' she said. ``We followed their lead and trained over 1,200
volunteers. Operation Rescue has been so badly outnumbered here that
they have not had much impact.''
	While the protests are scheduled to end Sunday, Williams said her
agency was not about to relax.
	``They are know for parting gifts, usually in the form of arson,''
she said.
	San Jose police said there were no new arrests on Friday, the eighth
day of local protests. So far, 106 Operation Rescue supporters including
15 juveniles have been arrested.
	Operation Rescue has been staging similar demonstrations in Dallas;
Melbourne, Fla.; Jackson, Miss.; Philadelphia; Cleveland; and
Minneapolis-St. Paul.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Area residents feel trapped by abortion protests
Date: Sat, 17 Jul 93 10:06:13 PDT

	MELBOURNE, Fla. (UPI) -- In the 12 years since an abortion clinic
opened in a Melbourne, nearby residents have been bothered by constant
protests, bomb threats and escalating harassment of patients and staff.
	The residents are tired of protests, tired of being afraid, tired of
being in the middle of a clash between abortion foes and abortion rights
activists.
	``It just gets worse,'' said Dorothy Breon, who invited 20 children
to her daughter's backyard birthday party last December.
	Only three kids showed up.
	``The parents said they were afraid for their children to come into
this neighborhood,'' she said.
	This spring, after the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue National
bought a one-story house directly across from the Aware Woman clinic,
there were more than 100 arrests for violation of a court-ordered buffer
zone around the facility.
	Sunday marks the end of Operation Rescue's seven-city ``Cities of
Refuge'' protest series.
	Local resident Tony Feole said the anti-abortion protesters, who
sometimes come by the busload, are ruining the neighborhood.
	Feole said protesters have shown pictures of unborn fetuses to
neighborhood children.
	``Talk about vulgar,'' he said. ``I'd rather the kids look at
'Playboy.'''
	Breon said protesters once tied a noose around a plastic doll and
hung it from a tree near the clinic.
	``Try explaining that to a 4-year-old,'' she said.
	On any given day, the number of protesters may range from a handful
to hundreds, residents and clinic staffers said.
	``On the weekends, we're like prisoners in our own homes,'' Breon
said. ``The kids can't play in the park because the protesters have
turned it into the parking lot. We can't have a backyard barbecue....We
can't even have a garage sale.''
	Most of the residents' anger is directed at the opponents of abortion
-- anger anti-abortion leaders maintain is misplaced.
	``They should be mad at Aware Woman,'' said Wendy Wright,
communications director for Operation Rescue National. ``There is a
death camp in their neighborhood where babies are being killed and women
exploited.''
	During a recent demonstration, Breon said she and her children put
nearly a dozen handmade signs in their front yard telling protesters to
go home.
	``They called me 'baby killer.''' Breon said. ``We just want a normal
life. But I know nothing I do is going to make them stop.''


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Dallas-Fort Worth protests capped by church service
Date: Sun, 18 Jul 93 13:29:28 PDT

	EULESS, Texas (UPI) - The 10-day Operation Rescue protest at North
Texas women's clinics and physicians' homes wound down Sunday with
activists attending services at an area church.
	The Rev. ``Flip'' Benham, a Dallas minister who led the Dallas-Fort
Worth ``Cities of Refuge'' campaign, declared victory Saturday, saying
the protests ``sowed the seeds'' for daily protests in the region.
	But a feminist group said Sunday that the seven-city campaign 
``totally failed'' to prevent any women in the targeted cities from
undergoing abortions.
	Feminist Majority Foundation President Eleanor Smeal said ``In at
least one targeted city -- Dallas -- the clinics actually had a lower
postponement and cancellation rate than normal.''
	She said the combination of police response, anti-harassment
ordinances, aggressive litigation and clinic defense teams ``served to
stop them in their tracks.''
	Dallas police, who posted 70 officers at clinics Saturday, arrested
13 people Tuesday. Police arrested 31 protesters Thursday at a clinic in
White Settlement, a Fort Worth suburb.
	In addition to the Dallas-Fort Worth area, the ``Cities of Refuge''
campaign targeted Cleveland, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Jackson, Miss.,
San Jose, Calif., and Melbourne, Fla.,


    

From: [email protected] (JENNIFER PACKER)
Subject: 'Hidden children' recall traumas of Holocaust
Date: Sun, 18 Jul 93 19:08:03 PDT
	
 UPI Newsfeature
	
	JERUSALEM (UPI) -- For more than two years, 12-year-old Hanya Goldman
hid in a tiny lice-infested hayloft in Poland, living in fear that her
family would be discovered by the Nazis.
	``We couldn't speak beyond a whisper,'' said Goldman, now a painter
in New York who goes by the name of Ann Shore. ``We would look down
through the slats of the floor where we crouched, and that was our
entertainment.''
	Shore and hundreds of other ``hidden children,'' most of them now in
their 50s and 60s, gathered in Jerusalem this past week to discuss their
painful youth and share means of coping with the memories. For some it
was the first time they had told of their years waiting out World War II
hiding in attics, sewers, basements and convents.
	The four-day conference offered workshops on the traumas and
difficulties of being forced to grow up quickly, lingering feelings of
fear and abandonment and how to tell their children about their
experiences.
	Shore said that during the first such conference she organized in New
York two years ago, ``people thought they were the only ones that had
that kind of experience.''
	As an adult, Shore said, she didn't talk about her traumas as a
hidden child until a few years ago. Most are ashamed that they survived
the Holocaust while 6 million other Jews died in Nazi concentration
camps. ``I denied the existence of Hanya Goldman,'' said Shore, now 64.
``I had to regain myself.''
	Though she has told her story dozens of times since coming to terms
with her years as a hidden child, each time she talks about it makes her
cry.
	She recalls that while hidden in the loft of the one-room farmhouse,
her family couldn't bathe and didn't have running water. At night, Shore
would venture out alone under cover of darkness to steal scraps of food
and empty the bucket they used for a toilet.
	All three were swollen with malnutrition, and Shore's sister suffered
epileptic fits. Their mother developed a crippling bone disorder.
	The woman who had taken them in, she said, did so out of piousness
but seemed angry that she had agreed to help. ``The greatest shame (for
a Pole) was to tell someone, 'I'm hiding Jews,''' Shore explained. ``I
never figured out why she didn't get rid of us. Anything provoked her to
scream at us.''
	Eventually, the woman's brother chased them out, and the family spent
the last six months of the war hiding in another tiny hayloft that they
had to share with rats.
	Shore defines hidden children as ``any child who had to disguise his
Jewish identity during the war. You didn't actually have to be hidden.''
	Abe Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League of Bnai
Brith, a U.S.-based organization that fights anti-Semitism, is himself a
prime example. He said many children taken in as infants during the war
by Catholic and Protestant families were never informed they were
Jewish.
	``Some of us still do not know our true identity,'' said Foxman,
whose then-adopted Catholic family in Poland kidnapped him away from his
Jewish parents after the war so that he would continue to practice
Catholicism.
	``If my parents didn't survive, I'd probably be a Catholic priest
today,'' he said.
	Most hidden children are now the aging survivors of the Nazi plan to
wipe out the Jewish population in Europe. ``We carry an added burden
because we are the last survivors,'' Foxman said.
	Sarah Moskowitz, a professor of human development and counseling at
California State University, Northridge, and one of the speakers at the
conference, emphasized the lasting feelings of loneliness and isolation
felt by hidden children.
	``To be in hiding was to be dislocated and dismissed,'' she said. 
``They felt like second-class citizens to those who survived the camps.
Today is the day to stop apologizing and recognize our place in history.
''
	The conference also paid tribute to rescuers of Jewish children, some
of whom have maintained contact with those they rescued.
	Hanna Weiss, 67, was a teenager in Amsterdam, Netherlands, when she
was taken in by a Protestant family 75 miles away in the town of Sneek.
It was there that she and her sister hid for two years, cooking,
cleaning and keeping house for their rescuers.
	Weiss's father, who distributed newspapers for the Dutch anti-Nazi
underground movement, had been caught and killed, and Weiss's mother
died in concentration camps.
	Though she could rarely venture outside the house, Weiss was free to
roam around inside. When German soldiers came to search the house, Weiss
and her sister hid in makeshift shelters until they left.
	``We wanted to help,'' said Weiss's rescuer, Vrani Munch-Zwagerman. 
``We were terribly anti-Nazi.''
	Though her life was constantly threatened by the possibility that
others might find out she was harboring Jews, Munch-Zwagerman said she
and her husband weren't afraid. ``If you're always frightened, you can't
live,'' she said. ``The important thing was not to do anything stupid.''
	Weiss, who now lives in the Israeli seaside city of Ashkelon, has
since become close friends with Munch-Zwagerman, who herself decided to
move to Israel.
	In 1968 Munch-Zwagerman flew to Israel to attend the Bar Mitzvah
celebration of Weiss's son. On a return trip 10 years ago, she met her
current husband and has moved permanently to Ashkelon where she lives
near Weiss.
	Though she saved the lives of Weiss, her sister and another Jewish
woman, Munch-Zwagerman said she has regrets. ``I'm very sad that I
couldn't have done more.''

From: [email protected] (BEN LYNFIELD)
Subject: Palestinian peace negotiator presses claims to E. Jerusalem
Date: Fri, 16 Jul 93 11:01:21 PDT

	JERUSALEM (UPI) -- The chief Palestinian peace negotiator warned
Friday that Middle East peace efforts will collapse unless Israel
recognizes Palestinian claims to East Jerusalem.
	``If Israel maintains its position regarding Jerusalem, I think it
will kill the peace process,'' said Haidar Abdel-Shafi, chief of the
Palestinian negotiating team. ``The important thing is that Israel
should concede the Palestinian rights in Jerusalem,'' he said.
	The strong words came at a seminar in East Jerusalem on the city's
future, and capped a week of strident pronouncements by Abdel-Shafi, who
is wary of stepped up American pressure for concessions to Israel.
	U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Ed Djerejian and Dennis Ross, U.S.
coordinator for the peace talks, recommended Thursday to Secretary of
State Warren Christopher that he head for the Middle East to prod Israel
and its Arab negotiating partners towards agreement.
	Meanwhile, in the Gaza Strip, three Palestinians were lightly wounded
overnight by fire from undercover soldiers in the Zeitun neighborhood of
Gaza City, Palestinians reported Friday. The army said it was checking
the incident.
	Djerejian and Ross wound up a visit to the region Tuesday after
failing to resolve Israeli-Palestinian differences over a U.S.
declaration of principles document to streamline their Washington talks
on self-rule in the occupied territories. But the envoys nvertheless
emerged convinced of potential for agreement.
	Israeli officials said they had not received formal notification or a
timetable for a visit by Christopher.
	``Every visit by an American official, and certainly that of a
secretary of state, can contribute to moving forward the peace process,''
said Gad Ben-Ari, spokesman for Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
	``Should there be such a visit it would be welcome,'' Ben-Ari said.
	Abdel-Shafi termed the outcome of the Ross visit ``not encouraging.''
But, he added: ``We will keep a receptive mind and see what Mr.
Christopher will bring with him.''
	Israel annexed East Jerusalem after capturing it during the 1967
Middle East war and has declared it to be part of its ``eternal,
undivided capital.'' Palestinians view the same area as the future
capital of the independent state they hope to create in the occupied
territories.
	Ben-Ari said Abdel-Shafi's warning would not have an impact on
Israel's stance towards the talks.
	``In spite of statements here and there, our impression is that all
of the parties are very interested in pursuing the talks and not
abandoning them,'' he said.
	Abdel-Shafi, a Gaza physician, has raised eyebrows in recent days by
calling for democratic reforms in the Palestine Liberation Organization
and a reduction in the clout of PLO leader Yasser Arafat.
	He is known for taking a tougher stance towards Israel in the peace
talks than some of the other Palestinian leaders, such as Faisal
Husseini, the most prominent Arafat supporter in the occupied
territories.


    

From: [email protected] (STEPHEN DI BIASIO)
Subject: France remembers its Jewish deportees from World War II
Date: Fri, 16 Jul 93 12:03:08 PDT

	PARIS (UPI) -- For the first time since World War II, France Friday
commemorated the deportation of 13,000 Jews by the Nazi collaborationist
Vichy government.
	The ceremony, attended by Prime Minister Edouard Balladur, government
ministers and more than a thousand members of the Jewish community, was
held on the site of Paris' former Vel d'Hiv sports stadium.
	On July 16, 1942, thousands of Jews were taken to the Vel d'Hiv
stadium after a massive dawn round-up throughout the capital. From Vel
d'Hiv they were sent to their deaths at Auschwitz.
	The ceremony coincided with a national day of remembrance for those
who suffered racist and anti-Semitic persecution by the puppet French
government installed by Hitler from 1940 to 1944 at the spa town of
Vichy.
	Announcing that a permanent memorial would be erected on the site to
replace the simple plaque, Balladur told relations of the deportees that
France remained in mourning over this terrible event but was determined
to be seen by the world as the upholder of human rights and would take
its responsibilities in fighting racism with the utmost seriousness.
	Jean Kahn, president of the French Council of Jewish Institutions
said: ``This appalling hunting-down of innocents, guilty for merely
being Jewish, will from now on will be engraved in the collective
history of our country.''
	Among those present to hear the speeches, share memories and listen
to Yiddish songs and poems was Simone Weil, Social Affairs minister and
herself a survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
	Another survivor, Sarah Castel, spoke emotionally of her
recollections of the dawn arrest of her family by French police when she
was 5 years old. She recalled the ``horror that existed in this
terrifying place'' and how they were ``crammed together like animals.''
She remembered too, she said, ``the fear, the hunger and the screams.''
	``I ask you,'' she told those present, ``not to forget. For
forgetting is a second death.''
	The extent to which French authorities collaborated with the Nazis is
still a painful subject in France. Historians estimate that nearly 76,
000 French Jews, including 11,000 children were deported to Germany.
Less than 3,000 survivors were traced at the end of the war.
	Only last month, Rene Bousquet, 84, head of the French police under
the Vichy regime, was murdered just before he was due to be judged in a
long-awaited trial for crimes against humanity.
	But another trial, that of 78-year-old Paul Touvier, former head of
the Nazi militia in Lyons during the war, is likely to go ahead. Wartime
episodes that are among the most shameful in modern French history
appear set to be increasingly in the public spotlight.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Syrian Minister holds talks in Beirut on U.S. official's Middle East tour
Date: Fri, 16 Jul 93 16:48:02 PDT

    
	BEIRUT, Lebanon (UPI) -- Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Al Sharaa
Friday briefed Lebanese officials on the results of U.S. special peace
envoy Dennis Ross' tour in the Middle East and said U.S. Secretary of
State Warren Christopher is planing another visit to the region soon.
	Sharaa said Ross informed the Syrian officials that Christopher will
come to the region for further peace negotiations ``at the end of this
month or the first week of next month.''
	Sharaa said his talks with President Elias Hrawi, Prime Minister
Rafik Hariri and House Speaker Nabih Berri focused Ross' mission that
aimed at bridging Arab-Israeli differences at the Mideast peace
negotiations.
	Ross, heading a delegation of Middle East specialists, toured the
region and met Syrian, Jordanian, Israeli and Palestinian officials in a
mission aimed at removing obstacles in the peace process.
	The Syrian official also discussed the mounting tension in southern
Lebanon amid Israeli threats to carry out a military operation against
Lebanese and Palestinian guerrillas to avenge the killing of five of its
soldiers in the ``security zone'' last week.
	Israel, which blamed Syria for the violence, has rushed more than 800
soldiers, backed by dozens of artillery pieces, to the border zone in
southern Lebanon as a prelude to attack resistance guerrilla bases.
	``I would like to make clear that the Lebanese resistance derives
from the Lebanese will and it is not operating under the Syrian
umbrella,'' Sharaa said.
	``We are in a peace process and not in a war process and we should
look and hope that there is no escalation in the south and no Israeli
agression,'' he said.
	He said the latest U.S. activities ``now allow serious discussions to
put U.N. Security Council resolutions into effect and push forward the
peace talks.''
	Sharaa also delivered to Hrawi a letter from Syrian President Hafez
Assad and said the two leaders would hold a summit meeting soon to
discuss developments in the region.
	Lebanese Foreign Minister Fares Boueiz also discussed with Sharaa
holding a meeting of concerned Arab Foreign Ministers in Beirut to
coordinate stands at the next round of peace talks.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Lebanon coordinates with Egypt, Syria over Middle East talks
Date: Sat, 17 Jul 93 10:13:00 PDT

	BEIRUT, Lebanon (UPI) -- Lebanon Saturday engaged in a flurry of
contacts with Syria and Egypt over U.S. efforts to boost Middle East
negotiations and the Arab position.
	Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa arrived late Saturday in Beirut
on a two-day visit to obtain cohesion before the next round of Middle
East talks and the expected visit of Secretary of State Warren
Christopher.
	``Peace is the only way towards reestablishing stability and justice
in the Middle East,'' Moussa said on arrival at Beirut International
Airport.
	Moussa, who was greeted by Lebanese Foreign Minister Fares Boueiz and
Egyptian Ambassador Sayyed Abou Zeid Omar, said he was carrying a letter
from Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to his Lebanese counterpart.
	The Egyptian official expressed his country's efforts and willingness
to help overcome obstacles blocking the negotiation process.
	Commenting on the escalation of violence in southern Lebanon, he
said, ``We refuse any effort to overcome any attempt that jeopardizes
the peace process and Lebanon's sovereignty and violates international
laws and justice.''
	Boueiz said ``through Egypt's contacts with all concerned parties,
can play an essential and effective role in the peace process.
	He said Moussa would discuss during his visit means to strenghten
bilateral relations.
	Moussa was to hold talks Sunday with Lebanese President Elias Hrawi,
Premier Rafik Hariri and Boueiz.
	Also Saturday, Hrawi met with Syrian President Hafez Assad at the
latter's summer residence in the Syrian coastal city of Latakia for
similar coordination talks.
	The Syrian-Lebanese talks focused on the latest violence in southern
Lebanon that prompted Israel to threaten a military operation against
guerrilla positions to avenge last week's killing of five of its
soldiers.
	Hrawi and Assad evaluated the outcome of the 10th round of bilateral
peace talks and U.S. efforts to push them forward by bridging Arab-
Israeli differences.

From: [email protected] (DALAL SAOUD)
Subject: Saddam says U.S. has Israeli-inspired ``crazy policy''
Date: Sat, 17 Jul 93 10:19:51 PDT

	BEIRUT, Lebanon (UPI) -- Iraqi President Saddam Hussein Saturday
accused the United States of adopting a ``crazy policy'' that only
serves the interests of Israel, and called on Europe and Japan to take a
more serious role in containing U.S. ``hegemony'' over the world.
	Hussein, in a speech marking the 25th anniversary of the 1968 coup
d'etat that returned the Arab Baath Party to power, said the United
States often bows to ``positions that do not serve the long-term
interests of the U.S. but rather those of Jewish hardliners.''
	The Iraqi president said the U.S. search for balance in the region
only meant a continued declaration of war against the most important
states in the Middle East -- Iraq and Iran.
	``This is but a kind of political insanity and racial discrimination,
'' Saddam said in remarks carried by the Iraqi News Agency, INA,
monitored in Beirut. ``Such a political insanity only serves the
interests of Israel, known for its continued violation of Arab rights,
rather than those of the United States.''
	The Iraqi president blamed Washington's policies on the collapse of
the Soviet Union and the increasing yielding positions of Saudi Arabia,
Egypt and other Arab regimes in the region.
	He warned the European states and Japan against yielding to U.S.
policies ``that would make you deeply regret bearing the responsibility
for U.S. crimes and its solitary policies.''
	Saddam called on them to ``unify their positions in order to defend
their interests and world security against the U.S. dangerous threats
and evil and unjust goals.''
	He said the interests of Europe, Japan and China could differ from
those of the United States after ``the U.S. rulers reached that level of
arrogance and hegemony.''
	To the Arabs, he said: ``Is it better for them to protect the foreign
interests the way the foreigner wants, with all what it costs them
financially, and to bear the danger of being isolated by their own
people?''
	Saddam, quoting several verses of the Koran, praised the Iraqi people
for their steadfastness in resisting the U.S.-led attacks since the
Persian Gulf War and the embargo imposed by the United Nations after
Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990.
	``We have faith that tyranny and hegemony over the world could not
last for a long time because...God is capable of leading the faithfuls
to triumph and because of our Jihad (holy war),'' he said.


    

From: [email protected] (JONATHAN FERZIGER)
Subject: Israel warns of retaliation in Lebanon
Date: Sun, 18 Jul 93 11:20:47 PDT

	JERUSALEM (UPI) -- Israeli fighter jets flew over Beirut Sunday, the
army beefed up its forces along the Lebanese border and the the
government warned it will retaliate if attacks continue against its
northern settlements.
	The Israeli moves underlined the growing tension in the border area
and appeared to pave the way for any large-scale response to a series of
attacks in southern Lebanon in the past two weeks.
	Five Israeli soldiers have died and a dozen have been wounded in
clashes with Palestinian and pro-Iranian forces inside the 9-mile-wide
security zone, which Israel patrols with its surrogate South Lebanon
army.
	Forces in Lebanon have also continued to launch Katyusha missiles
against Israeli population centers in the north, hitting the town of
Kiryat Shemona and wounding six people.
	``The Israeli Defense Forces are prepared with reinforcements for the
defense of settlements and residents of the north,'' Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin's Cabinet said in a statement prepared at its weekly
meeting. ``The IDF will operate against those who attack its forces in
the security zone. This is in addition to the activities of the SLA.''
	The statement was the first official acknowledgment that Israel was
increasing its forces along the northern border and inside the security
zone, although the move was widely expected and reported in the Israeli
press.
	State-run Israel Radio also reported that air force jets had flown
over the Lebanese capital and staged mock bombing raids in areas of
southern Lebanon.
	The flights came a day after two Israeli soldiers were wounded in a
roadside blast near their headquarters in the southern Lebanese town of
Bint Jbail. The attackers also opened fire with assault rifles and anti-
tank shells, the army said.
	In response, the Israeli soldiers opened fire and killed one of the
gunmen.
	Both the Iranian-suported Hezbollah organization and the Popular
Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, headed by Ahmed
Jibril, have been girding for a massive Israeli retaliation since they
killed five soldiers two weeks ago in southern Lebanon.
	Israeli jets bombed a village associated with Jibril south of Beirut,
but held back from a larger response while Dennis Ross, the U.S.
coordinator of the Middle East peace talks, was shuttling through the
area.
	Rabin asked Ross to pass a message on to Syrian President Hafez
Assad, requesting that he leash the forces in southern Lebanon attacking
Israel.
	But Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk a-Sharaa indicated during a visit
to Beirut on Friday that Assad had rejected the request.
	``Resistance is a legitimate right of every people under foreign
occupation and we don't accept messages,'' a-Sharaa told reporters.
	Assad also met with Lebanese President Elias Hrawi on Saturday to
discuss the Middle East peace process and presumably also reviewed the
situation in southern Lebanon.


    

From: [email protected] (DALAL SAOUD)
Subject: Hrawi says no peace before Israeli pullout
Date: Sun, 18 Jul 93 12:42:02 PDT

	BEIRUT, Lebanon (UPI) -- Lebanese President Elias Hrawi on Sunday
toured Shiite villages close to the Israeli-controlled border zone in
southern Lebanon and said Israel will not enjoy peace until it withdraws
its troops from the country's occupied parts.
	Also Sunday, the Islamic Jihad in Palestine group claimed
responsibility for an attack against an Israeli patrol in southern
Lebanon during which two Israeli soldiers were wounded and one guerrilla
was killed.
	Hrawi toured the Shiite villages of Mashgarah and Soghbine in the
southwestern Bekaa Valley, which are frequent targets of Israeli
shelling and air strikes.
	His tour, the first since he was elected president in 1989, coincided
with a firm warning by the Israeli government to retaliate against
attacks from southern Lebanon.
	It also came one day after Hrawi held talks in the Syrian coastal
city of Latakia with Syrian President Hafez Assad to coordinate their
positions on the Middle East peace talks and on the mounting violence in
southern Lebanon.
	Israeli troops have been reinforcing positions inside their self-
proclaimed ``security zone,'' raising fears of a large-scale Israeli
response to a series of attacks in southern Lebanon during the past two
weeks.
	Five Israeli soldiers have died and a dozen have been wounded in
clashes with Palestinian and pro-Iranian guerrillas. Six people were
injured in attacks against Israeli northern settlements.
	Tens of guerrillas and Lebanese civilians also were killed or wounded
in Israeli shelling and air strikes.
	``We will continue to resist the Israeli occupation until the
implementation of Resolution 425 is achieved,'' Hrawi said. ``Only then,
they (Israelis) can ask us and the Lebanese Army to preserve security at
the border.''
	Lebanon joined the Middle East peace talks with the hope of regaining
control of its occupied territories on the basis of U.N. Security
Council Resolution 425, which calls for the immediate and complete
withdrawal of Israeli troops.
	``We shall say there will be no security or stability without a
complete and overwhelming peace on all Lebanese territories,'' Hrawi
said.
	Hrawi pledged to adhere by the Middle East peace process but affirmed
that Lebanon would be the last Arab country to sign a peace treaty with
Israel.
	``I am here today to praise the steadfastness of our people against
the Israeli occupation,'' he said, adding that orders were given to
start rebuilding the nearby village of Maidoun, which was destroyed by
Israel five years ago.
	In Beirut, the Islamic Jihad in Palestine said in a statement that a
squad of its guerrillas ambushed Saturday night an Israeli patrol made
up of a Mirkava tank and a minesweeper on the Tireh-Kounin road inside
the ``security zone.''
	``Our guerrillas engaged in a firefight with the Zionist troops and
destroyed the minesweeper, inflicting heavy losses among enemy ranks,''
the statement said.
	One guerrilla, identified as 21-year-old Lebanese Ahmed Fayez Ahmed,
was killed, the Islamic Jihad statement said. A color picture of Ahmed,
carrying the Koran and a Kalashnikov, was attached to the statement.
	The Israeli Army confirmed the attack and said two of its soldiers
were wounded.
	The Jihad statement said Israel rushed troops and reinforcements
while its artillery pounded nearby villages, ``but our guerrillas
managed to return to their base safely.''
	The Islamic Jihad in Palestine, which is financed by Iran, is among
various Lebanese and Palestinian groups opposing the Middle East peace
talks and has pledged to fight Israel until its troops leave occupied
lands.
	Israel has been controlling the ``security zone,'' a strip of land
that stretches 9 miles inside Lebanon, since 1985 with the hope of
protecting its northern territories.


    

From: [email protected] (BEN LYNFIELD)
Subject: Israel sets date for Demjanjuk decision
Date: Mon, 19 Jul 93 4:56:13 PDT

	JERUSALEM (UPI) -- Israel's Supreme Court will announce a much awaited
verdict next week on the appeal by John Demjanjuk, the retired U.S auto
worker convicted of being the sadistic Nazi guard ``Ivan the Terrible,''
Justice Ministry officials said Monday.
	The ruling of the five supreme court judges will climax seven years
of emotional but slow-moving proceedings, capped by an appeal of the
death sentence given Demjanjuk on April 18, 1988, for ``crimes against
humanity''.
	A statement by the ministry said the verdict would be announced at 9
a.m. on July 29, more than a year after judges heard the appeal.
	The start of the appeal was postponed several times, once when
defense lawyer Dov Eitan jumped to his death from a skyscraper. Yoram
Sheftel, a partner in the defense team, had acid thrown in his face at
the funeral by a man whose family perished in the Holocaust, prompting a
further delay.
	Demjanjuk, 72, went on a brief hunger strike in March to protest the
delay in the case.
	Government officials have privately expressed concern in recent weeks
that the case, which started amid great fanfare and publicity after
Demajanjuk was extradited from the United States in 1987, could turn
into a public relations fiasco when the verdict is announced.
	Prosecutors focused on Demjanjuk's alleged actions at the Treblinka
death camp, where a guard known as ``Ivan the Terrible'' operated the
gas chambers in which hundreds of thousands of Jews were systematically
murdered during 1942 and 1943.
	In the appeal, Sheftel sought to cast doubt on eyewitness testimony
by survivors identifying Demjanjuk as the guard, citing new evidence
from the archives of the former Soviet Union's KGB intelligence agency
in an effort to prove he was framed and that the real criminal was
another guard named Ivan Marchenko.
	Prosecutor Haim Shaked also submitted evidence, garnered from German
archives, that he said undercut Demjanjuk's alibi that he spent the war
years in Chelm, Poland, and was not a member of the S.S.
	Shaked said the evidence placed a Nazi guard named Demjanjuk at
Flossenburg concentration camp, in Germany, in 1944, and that he had
arrived there from Treblinka.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Man arraigned for torching Mass. church
Date: Mon, 19 Jul 93 9:22:28 PDT

	AYER, Mass. (UPI) -- A homeless Massachusetts man pleaded innocent
Monday to three counts of arson including the torching of a Shirley
church apparently because the priest didn't give him a big enough
handout.
	Paul DuBois, 36, of Lawrence appeared in Ayer District Court and was
ordered held at Middlesex County Jail on $20,000 bail.
	DuBois was accused of setting fire to three buildings in Shirley last
Friday.
	St. Anthony's Church was one of the buildings torched. It's 400
parishioners held Sunday mass as usual, however, using lawn chairs to
conduct morning services in the church's parking lot.
	Prosecutors said DuBois previously had been sentenced to nine months
in jail for setting fire to a Catholic Church in Lawrence.
	In the latest incident, prosecutors said DuBois had gone to St.
Anthony's on two occasions and received a total of $14 from the Rev.
Richard Visbisky. DuBois allegedly used the money to buy drinks at a
local bar.
	Prosecutors said Dubois was when he returned to the church a third
time and was only given $2.
	DuBois was ordered to return to court for a pre-trial hearing on July
28.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Anti-abortion leader's home picketed
Date: Mon, 19 Jul 93 7:59:49 PDT

	CLEVELAND (UPI) -- The Rev. Joseph Slovenec, local leader of the anti-
abortion group Operation Rescue, thanked about two dozen pro choice
activists who protested outside his home Sunday ``for stopping by.''
	The abortion rights protesters converged on Slovenec's van as he
arrived home from St. Christine Catholic Church where he addressed about
420 anti-abortion activists and thanked those who took part in the
group's ``Cities of Refuge'' campaign in Cleveland and seven other
cities. The 10-day protest ended Sunday.
	The abortion rights protesters said they were turning the tables on
Slovenec, whose organization for years has protested in front of the
homes of doctors who perform abortions.
	Laverne Burdette, of the Ad Hoc Coalition for Pro choice, organized
Sunday's protest.
	``Every time they go to a doctor's home, we're going to be out here,''
Burdette said. ``We're here; it's a legal, peaceful demonstration.
	``We feel going into the neighborhood was a very good thing,'' she
said.
	Slovenec smiled as he checked out the protesters and talked with
neighbors. He even thanked them ``for stopping by.''
	And when they began to leave, he thanked them again and said, ``come
anytime. You know where I live.''
	He said he was not irritated by the protest in his neighborhood.
	``This doesn't bother me,'' he said. ``They just shouldn't yell. When
we go into a neighborhood, we pray. And they yell.''


    

From: [email protected] (JEFF BERLINER)
Subject: Russian religion law stirs controversy
Date: Mon, 19 Jul 93 12:14:24 PDT

	MOSCOW (UPI) -- Religious groups have been lining up to protest a new
Russian law restricting the activity of foreign missionaries, but the
law's chief sponsor said Monday it was in Russia's interest to stop this
``anarchy'' and limit the activities of foreigners on Russian soil.
	``Every country has the right to limit the entry of foreign religious
leaders in the interest of public accord,'' said Vyacheslav Polosin, the
Russian Orthodox priest who sponsored the law on religion as chairman of
the parliamentary committee on freedom of conscience.
	Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, missionaries have been
flocking to Russia to minister what they see as the spiritual needs left
by the death of communism and the fall of its gods.
	With unconcealed anxiety, the Russia Orthodox Church has been
watching the influx of foreign missionaries boldly move into what it
considers its native territory.
	``After the breakup of the Soviet Union, a legal vacuum emerged in
Russian legislation, and there were no procedures to regulate the
activity of foreign citizens in Russia,'' Polosin said.
	``There was total anarchy,'' he said. ``Therefore, provisions were
introduced in the law, including the need to obtain accreditation for
foreign citizens from religious organizations coming to Russia.''
	The beared priest, appearing at a news conference as a legislator and
in a suit, defended the law as vital for Russia's interests. He said a
clause ``concerning the interests of the state is not there by accident.
''
	Polosin said the law will not restrict beliefs -- but only religious 
``labor activity,'' meaning missionary work, proselytizing, advertising
and the presence of foreign preachers on Russian television, in
theaters, and even stadiums.
	He complained that the Russian church faced unfair competitition from
rich foreign preachers easily able to buy an hour of Russian television
time, which American evangelists have been doing. Last year preacher
Billy Graham rented Olympic Stadium and plastered the city with
billboard messages.
	But the Russian lawmaker-priest avoided answering questions aimed at
unveiling how the law would be enforced and what specific foreign
religious activities would be restricted. He said only that the
government would have to draw up the rules and regulations for
registering and controlling the activities of foreign religious workers.
	Polosin denied that the law targeted any religion, dodging
suggestions that it was designed to create a monopoly for the Russian
Orthodox Church, which backed the measure and is struggling to regain
its strength after 70 years of Soviet state suppression.
	But the lawmaker did single out some targets -- cult leaders,
fanatics, missionaries with questionable credentials -- and also Islamic
fundamentalism.
	Polosin said Islam was trying to create an artificial social base to
make inroads, a suggestion sure to anger Moslems in Moscow and St.
Petersburg, where there are mosques, as well as in regions of Russia
with large native Islamic populations.
	Other religious groups have been mobilizing opposition since
Parliament passed the measure last week, appealing to the president,
Parliament and the press.
	The Russian Confederation of Jewish Communities called the law 
``incompatible with the spirit of democratic changes'' underway in
Russia.
	The Russian-American Association for Spritual Renewal, representing
various Protestant denominations, charged that the law ``could severely
restrict human rights and religious freedom.''
	``Restrictions against activities by foreign religious organizations
would impact Russian Protestants, whose foreign counterparts are
bringing in millions of dollars in humanitarian aid as well as spiritual
assistance to Russia,'' the association said in a statement in which it
claimed to represent 2 to 3 million Russian Lutherans, Baptists,
Evangelicals, Pentecostals, Mennonites, Seventh Day Adventists, Molokans
and Methodists.
	An open letter to President Boris Yeltsin from the leaders of seven
denominations in the Russian Division of the International Religious
Liberty Association called the law a ``blatant'' violation of human
rights principles that could bring a return to religious censorship.
	The religious leaders said, ``One doesn't need to be a prophet to see
that very soon, the government body which accredits foreign
representatives of religious organizations will become a tool of those
who want to establish a monopoly of one ideology in Russia.''


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Diocese knew of concerns about priest, court records say
Date: Tue, 20 Jul 93 6:00:57 PDT

	DALLAS (UPI) -- Court records indicate that officials of the Roman
Catholic Diocese of Dallas were warned as long ago as 1986 about a
priest now accused of sexually abusing children.
	The Rev. Rudolph Kos and the diocese are defendants in a lawsuit
filed in May by two young men who say the priest abused them. Two more
plaintiffs joined the lawsuit on Monday amid the new allegations against
the diocese.
	Although the court records indicate the diocese knew of concerns
about Kos in 1986, it was not until October 1992 that Kos was removed
from a Dallas-area church where he was pastor and sent to a treatment
center in New Mexico.
	Kos has invoked the Fifth Amendment in refusing to answer specific
allegations but has denied any wrongdoing.
	An attorney for the diocese, Randal Mathis of Dallas, denied the
charges that church officials did not move quickly enough in the case.
	In documents filed with the court, the diocese said it first learned
of the allegations against Kos in September 1992, but a lawyer for the
plaintiffs in the lawsuit said Monday they knew of possible problems
long before then.
	Dallas lawyer Windle Turley said, ``There's written documentation
indicating that the church knew about it before that.''
	Mathis said the diocese received the first ``specific concrete
allegation of wrongdoing'' in September 1992 and Kos was removed the
next month.
	``That doesn't mean there weren't concerns expressed prior to that,
and there was an investigation,'' he said.
	The lawsuit alleges that Kos abused the original two plaintiffs in
the lawsuit while he was at St. Luke Catholic Church in Irving, between
1985 and 1988, and while he was at John Nepomucene Church in Ennis, from
1988 to 1992.
	In documents made public Monday through the discovery process, Kos'
conduct around young boys was called into question in 1986 by the pastor
of St. Luke while Kos was an assistant pastor. 
	The pastor, the Rev. Daniel Clayton, wrote diocesan officials about
Kos frequently inviting young boys as overnight guests. Two months
later, he wrote Kos directly and asked him to change his behavior.
	Kos wrote Clayton back two days later, accusing him of meddling in
his personal affairs. ``My private life is no one else's business,'' he
said in the letter, a copy of which was made a part of the court record.
	There are no criminal charges filed against Kos.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Do something about Sarajevo, Nazi hunter Wiesenthal appeals
Date: Tue, 20 Jul 93 13:28:10 PDT

	VIENNA (UPI) -- Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal appealed Tuesday to
fellow survivors of Nazi persecution to do something about the tragedy
in Sarajevo, where he said, despair is driving people to commit suicide.
	``The world's silence towards the Sarajevo tragedy screams to the
heavens,'' Wiesenthal said in a one page appeal.
	``I cannot understand this silence any longer,'' the 84-year-old
former concentration camp inmate said. ``Please do something to
demonstrate that at least you are not prepared to tolerate this crime
against the innocent, the unarmed and the blameless.''
	``Appeal to your governments, to your members of parliaments -- the
people you voted for, regardless which party they come from.''
	Wiesenthal, who runs the Jewish Documentation Center in Vienna, has
helped bring more than 1,100 Nazi war criminals to justice during his
career, including the notorious Adolf Eichmann.
	Born in Poland on New Year's Eve 1908, Wiesenthal was an architect in
the now Ukrainian city of Lviv when he was rounded up by the German SS
and sent to the Janowska concentration camp.
	He was later transferred to camps at Buchenwald and Mauthausen and
was the only one of 34 Jews from his town to survive.


    

From: [email protected] (SAEED MAALLAWI)
Subject: Israelis fire at sick Palestinian deportees
Date: Thu, 22 Jul 93 5:14:06 PDT

	MARJ AL ZOUHOUR, Lebanon (UPI) -- Israeli troops Thursday shot at a
group of some 82 Palestinian deportees who approached their checkpoint
in southern Lebanon insisting they were sick and needed medical care.
	The morning-long standoff ended after two deportees brought some of
the Palestinians up to a line of Israeli troops guarding the checkpoint.
The Israelis responded by firing their guns and one artillery shell.
	No one was injured among the deportees, some of whom had approached
the Israeli-controlled Zimraya gate in wheelchairs and on mules.
	``We appeal to the international humanitarian institutions to back
our right to reach hospitals and obtain treatment,'' deportee Mohammed
Hassan Shamaa said in reading a statement to a crowd of reporters
gathered at the site.
	``We thank every human being who would respond to our humanitarian
cause,'' Shamaa said. 
	Israel left the deportees in a desolate stretch of southern Lebanon
on Dec. 17 as punishment for the killings of Israeli policemen by
fundamentalist activists.
	Israel has taken back 19 ill exiles out of an original 415 deportees,
but it has insisted despite international criticism that the deportees
will be forced to spend at least a year outside their homes in Israel's
occupied territories.

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Guerrillas resume attacks in southern Lebanon
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 93 11:53:06 PDT

	SIDON, Lebanon (UPI) -- A roadside bomb exploded Wednesday against a
military patrol in the Israeli-controlled ``security zone,'' reportedly
causing casualties and material damage, security and militia source
said.
	The explosive charge, planted by resistance guerrillas, detonated
while a patrol, believed to be Israeli, was passing near the village of
Tallouseh inside Israel's self-proclaimed ``security zone,'' some 17
miles east of the southern port city of Tyre, security sources said.
	The Islamic Resistance Movement, the military arm of the pro-Iranian
Hezbollah, claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement, saying
a squad of its fighters attacked a military vehicle on the Tallouseh
road.
	The Muslim fighters fired machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades,
``killing or wounding all the patrol crew,'' the statement said.
	Hezbollah said in a separate statement that its fighters also
ambushed an Israeli tank near the post of Ali Taher in the Israeli-
controlled ``security zone.'' It provided no further details.
	In retaliation, Israeli forces fired two 155mm shells on the
outskirts of Kabrikha and Majdel Selim villages, located outside the
border zone, and shot machine-gun fire into nearby woods, the security
sources said.
	Lebanese military sources confirmed that Israel still was rushing
reinforcements to the border zone in what appeared to be a preparation
for a large-scale military operation against guerrilla bases in southern
Lebanon.
	Five Israeli soldiers have died and a dozen have been wounded in
clashes with Palestinian and pro-Iranian forces during the past two
weeks.
	Six people were injured in Katyusha attacks against Israel's northern
settlements.
	Tens of guerrillas and Lebanese civilians also were killed or wounded
in Israeli shelling and air strikes.
	Lebanese Defense Minister Mohsen Dalloul said the Lebanese army will
retaliate against any Israeli aggression against southern Lebanon.
	``We will not stand idle and will fight with all available means,''
Dalloul told the Christian-run Voice of Lebanon radio station.
	He said resistance activities will stop ``only after the retreat of
Israeli soldiers from our land.''
	Israel has been controlling the ``security zone,'' a strip of land
that stretches 9 miles inside Lebanon, since 1985.
	Lebanon joined the Middle East peace talks with the hope of regaining
control of its occupied territories on the basis of U.N. Security
Council Resolution 425, which calls for the complete withdrawal of
Israeli troops.
	Hezbollah and other Lebanese and Palestinian groups opposing the
peace talks have pledged to fight Israel until its troops leave occupied
lands.


    

From: [email protected] (JONATHAN FERZIGER)
Subject: Mideast threats a 'dialogue of signals'
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 93 11:46:10 PDT

	JERUSALEM (UPI) -- The ping-pong of threats sailing back and forth
between Israel, Lebanon and Syria this week are in fact ``a dialogue of
signals'' to minimize rather than escalate hostilities, a spokesman for
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin said Wednesday.
	British envoy Douglas Hogg, meanwhile, was making the rounds in
Jerusalem, meeting with both Israeli and Palestinian leaders about the
Middle East peace process. He praised Rabin's government as ``firmly
committed to a policy of peace,'' but Israeli officials said British
diplomacy would make little difference in the peace negotiations.
	Reponding to statements from Damascus and Beirut that further Israeli
incursions into southern Lebanon would provoke military action on their
part, Defense Ministry spokesman Oded Ben-Ami said he did not believe
the tense situation would lead to military confrontation.
	The rough talk followed a warning from the Israeli army chief of
staff, Lt. Gen. Ehud Barak, who said Tuesday his troops would probably
push north of the current self-declared ``security zone'' if attacks
continue against Israeli troops deployed in southern Lebanon.
	Rabin's Cabinet made a similar warning on Sunday that Israel would
retaliate forcefully if Palestinian and fundamentalist Hezbollah forces
continue to assault its soldiers.
	``Right now, we are seeing a dialogue of signals,'' Oded Ben-Ami,
Rabin's spokesman, said in his extra role as defense minister. ``We
think the other side has gotten the message.''
	Five Israeli soldiers were killed in two attacks during the second
week of July by Hezbollah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine-General Command. Although the air force shelled a village
connected with the PFLP in response, Israel has held off from further
retaliation, instead asking the Lebanese and Syrian governments through
a U.S. envoy to restrain the guerrillas.
	Israel has also bolstered its forces in the 9-mile-wide security zone
with more troops and tanks, while deploying extra soldiers on its
northern border as well.
	In Jerusalem, Hogg, the British Foreign Office minister, met with
Rabin, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and negotiators from the
Palestinian delegation to the peace talks.
	Emerging from Rabin's office, Hogg described his 45-minute session
with the prime minister as ``fascinating'' and said Rabin's government
is seeking peace. ``I believe that's the policy of the Israeli
government, and I've said that to my Palestinian friends whenever I've
seen them,'' Hogg said.
	Rabin spokesman Gad Ben-Ari said Rabin reiterated Israel's positions
in the peace negotiations, including his vow that Jerusalem will remain
under Israeli control.
	``I don't think there was any pretension on behalf of Hogg to push
the peace process forward or even to contribute,'' Ben-Ari said. ``He
came more to learn, and he did not bring up a proposal or try to promote
any idea.''
	On Tuesday, Hogg urged Palestinian leaders in the occupied Gaza trip
to comply with American recommendations for the peace process and work
for a compromise with Israel.
	Hogg also spoke with Peres about arranging a new trade agreement with
the European community and expanding economic ties with Britain.


    

From: [email protected] (SID BALMAN Jr.)
Subject: U.S. hopes to build better ties to Asia, prod Mideast peace process
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 93 12:48:32 PDT

	WASHINGTON (UPI) -- Secretary of State Warren Christopher said
Wednesday he will emphasize the growing economic importance of Asia and
work to achieve a modicum of progress in the Middle East peace talks
during an upcoming trip to those regions.
	Christopher, who departs Thursday for a meeting of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations in Singapore and discussions in Australia before
visiting the Middle East, said the Asian leg of his trip ``underscores
our administration's commitment to the new Pacific community.''
	The ``pillars'' of America's relationship with the Pacific community,
he said, are open economies, free trade, a sustained U.S. military
presence and support for human rights.
	``The important thrust of our foreign policy will be to strengthen
engagement in Asia,'' Christopher told reporters. ``The central thrust
will be to give great attention to this region which is so important to
our future security and prosperity.''
	But Christopher will have far more on his diplomatic plate during
meetings in Singapore with Foreign Ministers Nguyen Manh Cam of Vietnam
and Qian Qichen of China.
	When the secretary of state meets with his Vietnamese opposite
number, which will be the most senior parley between the two nations
since President Clinton took office, discussions will center on
normalization of relations.
	Clinton became the first president in decades to begin a process of
establishing better ties with Hanoi by recently announcing that the
United States would no longer oppose loans from international lending
institutions.
	It was ostensibly a step to reward Vietnam for helping the
administration determine the fate of several thousand American soldiers
still unaccounted for since the war.
	Although Vietnam has been cooperative in that effort, Christopher
said, Hanoi must be more forthcoming with information on POWs and MIAs 
``before any further steps are taken.''
	``We need to have assurance that we've gotten all the available
information on POWs and MIAs,'' he said. ``That's what's driving our
policy in the United States.''
	In his talks with the Chinese foreign Minister, Christopher will
attempt to determine whether Clinton should impose economic sanctions
for Beijing's alleged sale of medium-range missiles to Pakistan, he
said.
	Beijing's sale of M-11 missiles to Islamabad, which the
administration says would violate a non-proliferation accord known as
the Missile Technology Control Regime, triggers U.S. export control laws
that require economic sanctions.
	China and Pakistan deny that the transaction occurred.
	Senior administration officials said Tuesday that Clinton was ``very
close'' to penalizing Beijing for the sale.
	Christopher said his visit to Australia, where he will arrive
Wednesday, is designed to solidify relations with one of America's 
``closest allies.''
	And his discussions in the Middle East, which begin in Cairo July 31,
foreshadow what may be a series of visits by him and his aides in an
effort to push along the moribund peace negotiations.
	The secretary said he did not expect ``any major breakthroughs''
during his talks with Israelis, Palestinians, Syrians and Jordanians.
Rather, he said, the administration hopes to help the parties make the
tough decisions that will be required to unblock the almost two-year
logjam in negotiations.
	``I've decided to travel to the Middle East at this time because it's
important to push forward the peace process,'' Christopher said. ``We're
now trying to help the parties overcome the barriers to substantive
agreements.
	``This won't result immediately from any single trip of mine, but my
presence in the region from time to time...can help lay the groundwork
for progress in the future.''


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Israel blasts villages after guerrilla attacks
Date: Thu, 22 Jul 93 5:00:30 PDT

	SIDON, Lebanon (UPI) -- Israeli artillery Thursday pounded Shiite
villages in southern Lebanon after Muslim guerrillas clashed with
militiamen of the pro-Israeli South Lebanon Army militia in the border
zone, wounding at least one civilian, security and militia sources said.
	Guerrillas of the Islamic Resistance Movement, the military arm of
the pro-Iranian Hezbollah, carried out a series of attacks against SLA
positions at the edge of Israel's self-proclaimed ``security zone,'' the
security sources said.
	A squad of Hezbollah fighters infiltrated the border enclave and shot
machine-gun fire and rocket-propelled grenades on a hilltop SLA position
in Sujud, 13 miles east of the southern port city of Sidon, the sources
said.
	``Our fighters managed to enter the post and violent clashes are
still raging,'' the Islamic Resistance Movement said in a statement.
	The statement said another squad of its guerrillas attacked and
destroyed the nearby SLA position in the Rihan-Aramata axis.
	Lebanese military sources said guerrillas, who were not immediately
identified, also attacked an SLA post in the same region. There were no
further details.
	In retaliation, Israeli artillery bombarded Shiite villages east of
Sidon, outside the border zone, the security sources said.
	Some 30 Israeli shells fell on the oustkirts of the market town of
Nabatiyeh and nearby villages in Iqlim Al Toffah region, including Jbaa,
Jarjou, Mlita and Ain Bouswar.
	A 45-year-old woman was wounded in Nabatiyeh, the sources said.
	Israel warned over the weekend it would harshly retaliate against
further guerrilla attacks from southern Lebanon.
	Hezbollah and other Palestinian and Lebanese groups opposing the
Middle East peace talks have escalated attacks against Israeli forces
and their proxy SLA militia during the past two weeks.
	Five Israeli soldiers have died and a dozen have been wounded.


    

From: [email protected] (JULIANA GRUENWALD)
Subject: Senate's female Democrats vow to fight abortion restrictions
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 93 17:55:44 PDT

	WASHINGTON (UPI) -- The Senate's five female Democrats said Wednesday
they will fight recent legislative attempts to restrict government
financed abortions through spending bills.
	Democratic Sens. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, Patty Murray of
Washington, Carol Moseley-Braun of Illinois, and Barbara Boxer and
Dianne Feinstein of California said at a news conference they are
working together to oppose the restrictions on federal funding for
abortions.
	A Senate Appropriations subcommittee approved an amendment Tuesday
barring federal employee health insurance programs from covering
abortions, except in cases of rape, incest or if the mother's life is
endangered.
	``We the Senate Democratic women are here today to let our colleagues
and constituents know that we are ready to resist at every level any
punitive legislative restrictions that deny women access to safe and
legal abortion coverage under any federal health insurance plans and
programs,'' Mikulski said.
	The female senators, who were joined at the news conference by
representatives of many abortion rights groups, said they would fight
the measure in the full Appropriations Committee on Thursday. Murray,
Feinstein and Mikulski are members of the committee.
	They said they oppose a House proposal sponsored by Rep. Henry Hyde,
R-Ill., which restricts federal funding for abortions except in cases of
rape, incest or if a mother's life is endangered. It cleared the House
June 30, attached to an appropriations bill for Labor, Health and Human
Services and Education.
	The senators said the amendment discriminates against poor and
minority women who cannot afford to pay for an abortion.
	``I believe that all women should have full access to reproductive
health care services, regardless of income, age or employment,''
Moseley-Braun said.
	Moseley-Braun pulled her sponsorship from the 1993 Freedom of Choice
Act, which would codify a woman's right to abortion under 1973's Supreme
Court decision in Roe Vs. Wade, because she said it essentially
discriminates against poor and minority women because it does not
provide abortion funding for them.
	She would not comment on whether this move would conflict with her
vow to fight the appropriations measures except to say that it has
nothing do with the Freedom of Choice Act, adding ``We're talking about
this'' now.
	Abortion rights advocates say they are still committed to getting the
Freedom of Choice Act passed, but the fight against the appropriations
measures is their first priority right now.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Pope appeals for release of kidnap victim
Date: Sun, 25 Jul 93 4:32:18 PDT

	CASTELGANDOLFO, Italy (UPI) -- Pope John Paul II, speaking at the
midday angelus at his summer residence in the Alban hills south of Rome,
Sunday appealed for the release of a wealthy Italian woman kidnapped in
the Sardinian town of Olbia July l5.
	The pope said he was praying for the release of Miria Furlanetto
Giuliani, 52, the wife of a leading lawyer on the island of Sardinia,
who was abducted from her home in central Olbia by kidnappers dressed in
police uniforms.
	``I make a heartfelt appeal to the kidnappers, in the name of God, to
restore Miria to the love of her family,'' John Paul said.
	He said he was also praying for all other victims of kidnapping.
	Bandits in the southern region of Calabria Friday kidnapped Adolfo
Cartisano, 57, a small landowner and owner of a photographic shop in the
town of Bovalino.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Gunmen kill 10, wound 53 in attack on South African church  By PATRICK COLLINGS
Date: Sun, 25 Jul 93 19:39:50 EDT

	JOHANNESBURG (UPI) -- Gunmen firing assault rifles and hurling hand
grenades stormed a South African church Sunday, killing 10 people and
wounding at least 53 others, authorities said.
	Police said 11 of the wounded were in serious condition in local
hospitals.
	The five attackers stormed the crowded St. James Church of England in
the coastal city of Cape Town, 900 miles (1,450 km) southwest of
Johannesburg, and fired into the congregation with AK-47 and R-5
automatic rifles.
	Two hand grenades were also thrown into the church in the mainly
white middle-class suburb of Kenilworth. Police estimated that over 1,
000 people were attending the service at the time of the attack.
	Police spokesman Capt. John Sterrenberg said it appeared that all the
attackers were black, although initial police reports incorrectly
identified two of the attackers as white.
	Among the dead were three Russian seamen who were attending the
service along with 130 of their countrymen.
	The gunmen fled in a car after carrying out the attack, described by
Anglican Archbishop and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu as
horrifying and almost unbelievable.
	``(The attack is) a most foul, despicable thing imaginable,'' Tutu
told reporters.
	An eyewitness, who requested anonymity, said he saw one of the
attackers walk in the side door of the church at about 7.45 p.m.,
moments before he heard a ``pop-popping sound.''
	``At first I could not comprehend that shots were being fired,
thinking there had to be some sort of electrical fault,'' the eyewitness
told reporters.
	``I dived onto the ground and lay there until the shooting stopped
and then ran out and got into my car and got as far away as I could,''
he said.
	Other eyewitnesses said that immediately after the hooded gunman
entered the church, four other men burst into the building as the Rev.
Ross Anderson was addressing his congregation, opened fire and threw the
hand grenades.
	``The attack on a church introduces a new and horrifying element into
the cycle of violence which we are currently experiencing and points to
the inherently evil nature of those involved in the perpetration of
violence,'' the government spokesman said in a statement.
	Most political violence in South Africa has been confined to black
townships, which border the country's cities and towns.
	But since November black gunmen have carried out a number of attacks
on white restaurants and farms. The military wing of the black socialist
Pan Africanist Congress has claimed responsibility for a number of the
attacks.
	By late Sunday, no-one had claimed responsibility for the church
attack and the exact motive remained unknown, although political
organizations linked the massacre to political objectives.
	The government statement said the attack indicated the desperation of
extremists who ``wish, at all costs, to prevent a peaceful, negotiated
and democratic solution'' in South Africa.
	The attack came hours before multi-party negotiators were scheduled
to meet Monday to discuss the first draft of a new constitution aimed at
moving South Africa from apartheid to black majority rule.
	``The great majority of decent South Africans must not allow outrages
such as this to undermine our common effort to achieve a peaceful and
negotiated solution to the problems of our country,'' the governemnt
spokesman said.
	The African National Congress also linked the attacks to attempts to
derail democracy talks and said it was ``deeply shocked by the savage
attack.''
	``The barbarism of an armed attack on a congregation busy in prayer
and worship defies description, and must be condemned unreservedly in
the strongest possible terms,'' the ANC said in a statement.
	``There are evil forces at work, determined to destroy our country's
future and wreck all efforts to build peace and democracy,'' the ANC
said.
	South Africa's transition to democracy has been accompanied by
violence, which often flared as breakthroughs were achieved during
three-years of talks between the country's main political parties.
	The violence is normally blamed on extremists to the left and right
of South Africa's political spectrum who fear their desires for a future
South Africa are being ignored at the multi-party talks dominated by the
government and the ANC.
	The government said Sunday its police officers would do ``everything
in their power to bring the perpetrators of this latest outrage to
justice.''


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Ramos: population policy continues despite Catholic opposition
Date: Mon, 26 Jul 93 5:31:30 PDT

	MANILA (UPI) -- President Fidel Ramos reiterated Monday his commitment
to providing information about contraception to curb population growth,
despite mounting outrage by the Roman Catholic Church.
	``Government has committed itself squarely to a family-planning
program based on choice,'' Ramos said during his State of the Nation
address delivered before a joint session of Congress.
	His statements came one day after the Manila Archbishop Jaime
Cardinal Sin urged health workers to defy Ramos' orders to promote the
use of contraception. In a sermon Sunday, the influential archbishop
also said the government family planning program betrayed the 
``foolishness'' of the Ramos administration.
	Ramos, the Philippines' first non-Catholic president, told the
country's roughly 7,000 health workers to resign if they disagreed with
his family planning policy.
	He launched an active planning program to help bring the annual
population growth to under 2 percent from about 2.7 percent.
	Rapid population growth has been key factor in blocking the
Philippines' effort to climb out of poverty.
	Ramos's efforts to control population growth have been condemned by
the Catholic hierarchy, which opposes artificial birth control.
	Although about 85 percent of the Philippines' 64 million people are
Catholic, surveys indicate the church has limited influence on couples'
decisions on whether to use birth control.


    

From: [email protected] (ABDEL MAWLA KHALED)
Subject: Israelis pursue attacks across Lebanon
Date: Mon, 26 Jul 93 7:27:46 PDT

	SIDON, Lebanon (UPI) -- Israel attacked Hezbollah and Palestinian
positions in southern, northern and eastern Lebanon from the air, ground
and sea for the second day Monday, military sources said.
	At least eight more people were killed and 34 others were wounded
Monday, bringing the number of dead to 20 and injured to 57 in 24 hours
of Israeli violence, the worst in southern Lebanon since the 1982
Israeli invasion.
	Lebanon called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations
Security Council to discuss the attacks, particularly those that
appeared to target humanitarian and relief agencies.
	Foreign Minister Fares Boueiz said after meeting ambassadors from the
United States, Britain, France and Russia -- the permanent members of the
Security Council, that the Washington and Paris were working hard to end
the fighting.
	Boueiz said Lebanon was notified of an agreement reached between U.S.
Secretary of State Warren Christopher and French Foreign Minister Alain
Juppet in this regard. He did not elaborate.
	The hostilities forced hundreds of Lebanese civilians to flee their
villages and huddle in fortifications, shelters and posts of the U.N.
peacekeeping force in the villages of Siddqine and Qana east of the
southern port of Tyre.
	Israeli gunboats and battleships, patrolling the southern coast
between Sidon and Tyre, barred cargo ships from approaching the shore
and ordered them to head to Beirut harbor.
	At midday, Israeli jets mounted a dozen more air strikes on
Palestinian camps and Hezbollah positions in southern and eastern
Lebanon.
	The jets destroyed two homes occupied by the Islamic Jihad-Beit Al
Makdess in the Mieh Mieh camp outside the southern port city of Sidon.
Two girls were missing and believed buried under the rubble. Six other
people were wounded.
	The Jihad group, financed by the mainstream Fatah movement, was
believed behind Sunday's missile attacks on northern Israel.
	Simultaneously, Israeli jets struck Hezbollah bases in the eastern
villages of Mashgharah and Suhmor, and in Siddiqine and Shaytiyeh in the
south. The posts were destroyed but there was no immediate word on
casualties.
	At dawn, Muslim guerrillas fired 15 Soviet-made Katyusha rockets
against Israel's self-proclaimed ``security zone'' and settlements in
northern Israel.
	Security sources in the border enclave said many people were wounded
in Israel. Israeli sources confirmed that at least four waves of
Katyushas hit western Galilee, but said they inflicted only light
damage.
	On Sunday, two people were killed and 10 others were wounded when
similar missiles landed in an Israeli settlement in Galilee. Israel
retaliated by firing some 200 shells on guerrilla and civilian locations
on the other side of the border zone, military sources said.
	On Monday, Israeli jets and gunboats blasted Palestinian refugee
camps, Hezbollah positions and Shiite villages in 20 consecutive sorties
that started shortly after midnight, dropping more than 60 rockets,
military sources said.
	The gunboats destroyed a two-story Palestinian base in the refugee
camp of Beddawi near the northern port city of Tripoli, killing at least
one person and wounding two others, witnesses and Lebanese police
sources said.
	Israeli jets struck Hezbollah bases in the village of Mashgharah in
the Bekaa Valley, killing three guerrillas and wounding at least four
more. The strikes also targeted a base for the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine-General Command led by Ahmed Jibril in the
coastal village of Naameh, south of Beirut, for the fifth time since
Sunday.
	The jets also blasted Shiite villages adjacent to the Israeli-
controlled security zone, which Israel accused of providing shelter for
the resistance guerrillas.
	Israeli radio confirmed that it mounted 60 air strikes in Lebanon
since Sunday.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Egypt to take measures in response to Israeli raids on Lebanon
Date: Mon, 26 Jul 93 8:29:55 PDT

	CAIRO (UPI) -- Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa said Monday the
government will take measures to respond to Israeli military attacks on
Lebanon to prevent the situation from undermining the already stalled
Middle East peace talks.
	``Egypt will take positions because it is inconceivable to let this
matter negatively affect the peace process,'' Moussa said after talks
with his visiting Sudanese counterpart, Hussein Abu Saleh. ``These acts
must cease immediately.''
	However, Egypt's top diplomat did not elaborate on what measures
Cairo may adopt in response to Israeli attacks this weekend at bases of
the pro-Iranian Hezbollah guerrillas and a radical Palestinian group in
southern Lebanon.
	Egypt, whose 1979 peace treaty with Israel made it the only Arab
nation at peace with the Jewish state, has said for days it was in
continuous contact with the Israeli government to avert escalation of
tensions in Lebanon.
	Moussa also paid a two-day visit to Beirut last week and held talks
with Lebanese leaders, during which they were said to have discussed the
clashes between pro-Iranian Hezbollah gurrillas and the Israeli forces
and the Christian militias they support in the south.
	On Thursday, an Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman urged Israel to
stop its raids on Lebanon and warned that such attacks could escalate
tension in the region and threaten the Arab-Israeli peace negotiations.
	The Cairo-based Arab League condemned Sunday the ``continued Israeli
actions, threats and provocations'' against Lebanon and said those
practices have impeded the Middle East peace process.
	Jordan also denounced the Israeli attacks on Lebanon and said the
raids will ``harm'' the 21-month-old Arab-Israeli peace talks.
	In a statement issued Sunday in Amman, the Palestinian Muslim
militant Hamas group also condemned the Israeli military operation in
Lebanon and called on Arab parties to the peace talks to withdraw from
the process.
	The Israeli attacks on Lebanon came only days before the U.S.
Secretary of State Warren Christopher is scheduled to arrive in the
region for a round of talks designed to jump-start the stalled Arab-
Israeli talks.
	In an interview with Radio Cairo Monday, Cairo Ain Shams University's
international law Professor Ibrahim El Anani argued that Israel was
using the latest attacks on Lebanon to press the Arabs for more
concessions in the peace negotiations.


    

From: [email protected] (BEN LYNFIELD)
Subject: Israel seeking Lebanese, Syrian pressure on Hezbollah
Date: Mon, 26 Jul 93 9:11:07 PDT

	JERUSALEM (UPI) -- With its airplanes, artillery and navy vessels
pounding targets in Lebanon a second day, Israel urged Syria and Lebanon
to curb pro-Iranian Hezbollah guerrillas in order to restore calm to the
area.
	Persuading ``Lebanese residents and governments involved in the
matter'' to apply pressure against Hezbollah was a major reason for the
pounding, said Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.
	A Soviet made Katyusha rocket fired from Lebanon crashed into
northern Israel late Monday afternoon and wounded a woman, Israel Radio
reported. Earlier volleys of Katyushas that landed Monday caused no
injuries, according to army officials.
	The army dubbed its activity in Lebanon ``Operation Accountability''
in an apparent reference to Israel's aim of holding Lebanon and Syria
accountable for the actions of Hezbollah guerrillas.
	Two residents of the northern Galilee town of Kiryat Shemona were
killed and 10 wounded Sunday night when a Katyusha crashed into a
building. More than one hundred Katyushas landed in Israel Sunday and
Monday, said army chief of staff Ehud Barak.
	Jacques Neriah, an adviser to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, told a
press conference that it was up to the Lebanese government to disarm
Hezbollah guerrillas and stop them from attacking Israeli targets.
	``I hope that by the end of the week the Lebanese government will
have acted as we hope it should,'' he said.
	``Our goal is to stop Hezbollah from acting through the Lebanese
government,'' he said. ``The Lebanese government is responsible for its
sovereign territory.''
	``If they are not politically strong enough to do this, then they
have good allies to the east of them,'' he said, referring to Syria, a
key power broker in Lebanon.
	Four ministers from Rabin's dovish Meretz coalition partner opposed
aspects of plans ``for continued actions'' approved by the cabinet early
Monday, and three ministers from Rabin's Labor Party expressed 
``reservations'' about them. No details were made available about the
plans.``
	``This drama must reach its climax with all sides knowing there are
no intentions of conquest and that we want to reach a calming so that
residents on both sides of the security zone can live in peace.''
	Neriah said the military activity came in response to a change in
Hezbollah policy, with more rocket attacks against northern Israel along
with confrontations inside Israel's ``security zone'' border strip in
southern Lebanon.
	``In the past they responded locally, now the pattern is to respond
by firing at our sovereign territory,'' he said.
	Commenting on Israeli shelling towards villages of South Lebanon
where Hezbollah guerrillas have established themselves, Neriah said: 
``When the inhabitants of villages are threatened by foreign
organizations, Palestinian or otherwise, they try to influence their
deputies and their government to remove those people from there.''
	Peres said Israel is anxious to prevent any fallout on the Arab-
Israeli peace talks, which are slated to move back to center stage next
week with a visit from U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher.
	``We have absolutely no intention of halting or reducing the peace
                   process,'' he told Israel Radio.
	``On the contrary, all those who are conducting the talks with us on
behalf of peace must be our partners in thwarting those who want to stop
the peace process from achieving its aims,'' he said.
	Minister of Housing Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, who backed the government's
plans, said the government was determined to ``ensure the security of
the residents of northern Israel at every price.''
	``I hope we will not need a ground operation,'' he said. ``I am
counting on the army and the security services and the government to
know how to organize at every stage.''


    

From: [email protected] (PATRICK COLLINGS)
Subject: At least 70 people die in political violence in South Africa
Date: Mon, 26 Jul 93 9:52:20 PDT

	JOHANNESBURG (UPI) -- At least 70 people, 11 of them churchgoers, were
killed in nationwide political violence in South Africa on the weekend,
authorities said Monday.
	In the worst single incident five gunmen, firing automatic assault
rifles and hurling hand grenades, Sunday stormed a church in the coastal
city of Cape Town, killing 11 people and wounding at least 53 others, 23
of them critically.
	As local and international condemnation of the attack grew, police
launched a nationwide hunt for the killers and offered a d75,000 (rand
250,000) reward for information leading to their arrest and conviction.
	By late Monday the black gunmen and their motive remained unknown,
although the government and the African National Congress speculated the
attack was intended to derail progress in moving South Africa from
apartheid to black majority rule.
	Attempts to use violence to derail the 3-year-old negotiations are
usually blamed on extremists on all sides of the country's political
spectrum who fear their desires for a future South Africa are being
ignored at multi-party talks dominated by the ANC and the government.
	The massacre was placed on the agenda for Monday's multi-party talks
but did not interfere with the debate on a draft constitution for a
post-apartheid South Africa.
	The police said they were investigating whether the attack was linked
to similar raids usually blamed on the Azanian People's Liberation Army,
the military wing of the black socialist Pan Africanist Congress.
	However, the APLA said from its offices in Tanzania it had no
knowledge of the attack on the church in the white middle-class suburb
of Kenilworth.
	Religious and political leaders visited the scene of the massacre and
hospitalized victims Tuesday to express concern and outrage.
	``How could anybody want to do that,'' Anglican Archbishop and Nobel
Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu said amid overturned pews and bloodied
pieces of clothing in the church.
	The British government expressed its ``horror and condemnation'' at
the church massacre and at continuing violence in black townships that
surround Johannesburg. A Foreign Office spokesman said the latest events
underlined ``the need for further progress in the constitutional
negotiations.''
	At least 47 people were killed on the weekend in townships on the
eastern border of Johannesburg, police said.
	Gunmen killed 11 people and wounded 14 others while spraying small
arms fire in two separate attacks in the township of Daveyton.
	Police patrols there were also attacked and an armored personnel
carrier was gutted when it was ambushed with AK-47 fire and gasoline
bombs. The ambushed officers escaped unharmed when a second patrol came
to their rescue.
	Violence in the townships has been blamed on either political and
ethnic rivalry between followers of the ANC and the Zulu-dominated
Inkatha Freedom Party or on black mercenaries working for white
supremacists who use violence in an attempt to derail the transition to
black majority rule.
	Twelve deaths were also reported in separate incidents in the midland
and southern areas of Natal province where at least 95 families were
left homeless by attackers who burned out their homes.
	Authorities blamed the violence on political and ethnic feuding.
	More than 9,000 people have died in political violence since
reformist President Frederik de Klerk started dismantling apartheid in
February 1990 and began negotiating a transition to black majority rule
with anti-apartheid organizations.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Rape conviction thrown out because aborted fetus destroyed
Date: Sat, 24 Jul 93 11:21:58 PDT

	BOSTON (UPI) -- The Massachusetts Appeals Court has overturned a man's
conviction on child rape charges because an aborted fetus that could
have been used as evidence was destroyed.
	Norman Sasville Jr., 46, of Middleboro, Mass., was convicted in 1991
on charges that he raped a 14-year-old babysitter. He was sentenced to
10 years in prison, but was freed last August and placed on three years
probation after a judge reviewed the sentence.
	His lawyers appealed the conviction, and argued that blood tests on
the girl's aborted fetus would have proved that Sasville was not the
father.
	The babysitter accused Sasville of raping her in his home in October
1987. She did not report the rape until five months later, when she
found out she was pregnant through a home pregnancy test.
	Her parents reported the rape to police, and she went to New York
City to have an abortion performed. Doctors saved the fetus for
evidence. But several days later, Plymouth County prosecutors told the
doctor that blood tests were not necessary, and the fetus was destroyed.
	The appeals court called the decision to destroy the fetus ``gross
negligence,'' and ruled Friday that it prevented Sasville from receiving
a fair trial.
	``The worth of such tests to establish conclusively nonpaternity
would be known to any professional in the criminal justice system,'' the
court ruled.


    

From: [email protected] (UPI)
Subject: Arab-Israeli fighting cuts short Christopher's Asia trip
Date: Tue, 27 Jul 93 5:34:18 PDT

	SINGAPORE (UPI) -- U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher cut
short a swing through Asia and Australia Tuesday to return to Washington
for consultations before his visit next week to the Middle East,
officials said.
	Christopher, in Singapore for multilateral security talks with Asia-
Pacific foreign ministers that were scheduled to end Wednesday
afternoon, instead departed Singapore Tuesday at 8 p.m. local time (GMT
1200).
	He made the decision after discussing the mounting Arab-Israeli
violence with U.S. President Bill Clinton by telephone at 7 a.m. Tuesday
(2300 GMT Monday), said a senior U.S. official.
	The official, who asked not to be identified, said Christopher was
not ordered back to Washington. ``He thought it was important to spend
concentrated time in Washington, to meet with his team and consult with
the president,'' said the official.
	Christopher still intends to depart for the Middle East on Aug. 1, as
originally scheduled before the current crisis erupted.
	Christopher also spoke by telephone Tuesday with Israeli Prime
Minister Yitzhak Rabin, as well as to senior Lebanese and Syrian
officials.
	``Rabin asked that he not cancel his trip to the Mideast in light of
what was going on, and the secretary said he didn't have any intention
of doing so,'' said the U.S. official.
	During the telephone conversations Tuesday, Christopher ``urged
maximum restraint on the part of all parties, and urged them to think of
ways to de-escalate the situation,'' said the source.
	In a written statement issued four hours before his Singapore
departure, Christopher said, ``I have been following the dramatic
escalation of violence in southern Lebanon and northern Israel with
great concern and I will be discussing the impact of these events on the
peace process.''
	Australian officials earlier announced a last-minute cancellation of
Christopher's visit. He was to arrive Wednesday in Cairns, in western
Australia, for the annual Australia-United States Ministerial Talks.
	The decision for Christopher to return to Washington came as Israel
battled Lebanese and Palestinians guerrillas in southern and eastern
Lebanon for the third consecutive day Tuesday. Israeli attacks on pro-
Iranian Hezbollah guerrillas in south Lebanon have generated widespread
anger in the Arab world.
	Christopher's sudden departure cut short his participation in a
series of bilateral talks with Asian foreign ministers pegged on
regional security.
	The United States was one of 18 nations participating in the July 26-
28 Singapore Post-Ministerial Conference, a landmark political and
security dialogue for Asia-Pacific countries.
	Christopher met Tuesday with Vietnamese Foreign Minister Nguyen Manh
Cam and had been scheduled Wednesday to sit down with Japanese Foreign
Minister Kabun Muto.
	Christopher, in his statement, expressed regret over leaving the
Singapore talks earlier and over missing the security consultations in
Australia. He said he hoped the Australia talks could be rescheduled for
the first quarter of next year.


    

From: [email protected] (MOHAMMED DARWEESH)
Subject: 7-27                                     Israel battle guerrillas for third day
Date: Tue, 27 Jul 93 6:01:27 PDT

	TYRE, Lebanon (UPI) -- Israel battled Lebanese and Palestinian
guerrillas in southern and eastern Lebanon for a third consecutive day
Tuesday, pounding villages with another round of relentless air strikes,
military sources said.
	Some nine more people were killed and 51 others wounded, raising the
casualty toll to 40 dead and 149 wounded since hostilities began Sunday,
the worst fighting since the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon.
	Three Nepalese peacekeepers of the United Nations interim force in
southern Lebanon were wounded Tuesday when Israeli warplanes struck
their post in the village of Hinniyeh, near the port city of Tyre,
military sources said.
	Israeli helicopters raided a base of the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine general command led by Ahmed Jibril in the
refugee camp of Rashidiyeh near Tyre, Palestinian sources said.
	One person was wounded and the base was partly destroyed, the sources
said.
	At dawn, the Israeli northern territories were hit by several Soviet-
made Katyusha rockets fired from guerrilla posts in southern Lebanon.
	Military sources said at least one rocket landed in the Israeli
Metulla settlement, wounding a woman and a soldier. The other rockets
hit inside Israel's self-proclaimed ``security zone.''
	Hezbollah guerrillas infiltrated the border enclave and attacked an
Israeli military barracks in Tallouseh in the central sector of the 
``security zone.''
	A Hezbollah statement said the Muslim fighters inflicted casualties
among the Israeli ranks but did not elaborate.
	The Israel army warned inhabitants of several Lebanese villages to
evacuate their houses before midday. They included Jwaya, Bazourieh,
Aiteet, Shaytiyeh, Wadi Jilo and Majadel.
	Israeli warplanes staged some 22 air strikes throughout the night,
targeting hills and outskirts of some 13 villages in the eastern and
western sectors of southern lebanon.
	Four civilians were killed and eight people, including six Hezbollah
fighters, were wounded during the air strikes on guerrilla hideouts and
civilian targets in the Iqlim al Toffah region, east of the southern
port city of Sidon, and a cluster of villages east of port city of Tyre.
	Sources from the United Nations forces in the region counted more
than 114 Israeli air strikes hitting some 18 villages within the past 72
hours.
	Israeli artillery also fired more than 1,900 shells since hostilities
started on Sunday, destroying dozens of houses and setting woods and
bushes on fire.
	Shells rained on the market town of Nabatiyeh, 33 miles (85 km)
southeast of Beirut and the Toffah region, wounding at least five
people.
	Hundreds of bearded Hezbollah guerrillas, wearing white shrouds over
their military fatigues and head banners that read ``Allah akbar'' (God
is great), were rushed to Nabatiyeh.
	The fighters, carrying M-16 rifles, took up combat positions at
street corners in anticipation of an Israeli ground advancement on the
town.
	Dozens of shells crashed on Majdel Selim, Kafra, Yater, Haris,
Maaroub and Jabal al Bottom, all located within the operational field of
United Nations forces east of Tyre, the sources said.
	Five people, including a 25-year-old Hezbollah journalist, were
killed and 35 others wounded during the shelling which incurred heavy
property damage, they said.
	The three days of violence have forced inhabitants of southern and
eastern Lebanon to flee their villages and seek refuge in more secure
areas.
	A United Nations officer estimated that 120,000 civilians out of 200,
000 living in 20 villages fled the targeted areas.
	The displaced people crammed schools, unifil shelters and public
buildings in Tyre and Sidon, with little food and clothes.


    

From: [email protected] (JONATHAN FERZIGER)
Subject: Israeli artillery pounds southern Lebanon
Date: Mon, 26 Jul 93 12:31:26 PDT

	WITH ISRAELI FORCES IN SOUTHEAST LEBANON (UPI) -- The Katyusha rocket
launched from the roof of a Hezbollah jeep at midafternon Monday arched
over the border and slammed into the Israeli town of Kiryat Shemona. It
tore through a two story building, leaving one woman slightly wounded.
	Within seconds, Israeli intelligence pinpointed the firing point. In
a buzz of excited Hebrew, the coordinates were relayed to an artillery
battery stationed inside southern Lebanon, which blasted its 175mm
Howitzers in response.
	BOOM! BOOM!BOOM! The ground shook for miles on both sides of the
border.
	``I don't know if we got them, but we definitely gave them a good
scare,'' 1st Lieutenant Ze'ev said with a grin.
	Ze'ev's unit, known as ``Thunder,'' had been saturating targets in
southern Lebanon with its massive cannons virtually every five minutes
since 8 o'clock the night before.
	Sitting at the lower end of Israel's self-declared ``security zone''
in southeast Lebanon, the battery's 12 guns played the drumbeat for
Israel's offensive to route the Iranian-supported Hezbollah forces.
	The operation, dubbed ``Accountability,'' was launched Sunday morning
with air strikes across Lebanon and was the long-awaited response to two
weeks of confrontation with Hezbollah and the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine-General Command, which left seven Israelis dead.
	Two Israeli civilians have been killed by Katyusha fire since the
action began, while dozens have died in Lebanon, including six Syrian
soldiers.
	No decision has been made yet on whether Israel would escalate the
confrontation by mobilizing ground troops and trying to wipe out
Hezbollah, as it fought the Palestine Liberation Organization in the
bruising 1982 Lebanon War.
	Military officials said troops were in the highest state of alert,
but commanders were keeping their options open.
	``We have a rich menu,''said Col. Raanan Gissin, an army spokesman. 
``We hope we will not have to serve the main course.''
	While air force jets and helicopter gunships controlled the skies
over Lebanon, making precision hits on pre-selected Hezbollah and
Palestinian positions, the howitzers poured their shells at Lebanese
villages just beyond the 9-mile wide (15 km) security zone under Israeli
control.
	``It is a form of psychological warfare,'' said Ze'ev, showing off
the artillery to a group of foreign journalists. Ze'ev, identified only
by his first name because of army regulations, said his unit was trying
mostly to irritate and scare villagers in the area and claimed its guns
                were pointed away from civilian homes.
	He believed the villagers would accept the Israeli assertion that
Hezbollah was to blame for basing itself in their midst and drawing the
                          constant fire.
	``If we kill civilians, it accomplishes nothing,'' the 21-year old
officer said. ``But if we keep on shooting, it will make the villagers
hate the Hezbollah terrorists.''
	Whether right or wrong in his assessment, Ze'ev said hioops were
relieved to be into action after holding back for two weeks.
	``We've been very stressed because the terrorists have been firing at
us and we did nothing,'' he said.``Now we've been given the green light
to shoot so everybody is very glad.''
	The young officer was unsure how long the operation would last, but
said he felt more challenged than during his past two years spent
             patrolling the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip.
	``The enemy we are facing here is a lot more dangerous than the
Palestinian kids who throw rocks in Gaza,'' he said.

From: [email protected] (BEN LYNFIELD)
Subject: Israel seeking to create ``waves'' of Lebanese refugees
Date: Tue, 27 Jul 93 4:59:50 PDT

	JERUSALEM (UPI) -- With airplanes and artillery stepping up barrages
on the third day of a military campaign in southern Lebanon, Israeli
leaders said Tuesday they hoped the moves would spur a large-scale
exodus northward by Lebanese civilians.
	``We want to bring about a wave of flights by residents of the
villages and leave damages for whoever was a partner to the activities
of Hezbollah,'' Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was quoted by Israel Radio
as telling parliament's foreign affairs and defense committee.
	``The goal is to move the population in south Lebanon northwards in
order to say something to the Lebanese government about the refugees who
could reach Beirut,'' he was quoted as saying during the afternoon
meeting.
	Residents of 20 villages north of Israel's self-declared security
zone border strip were warned by mid-day Tuesday to leave their homes,
bringing to 73 the number of towns and villages given such warnings
since Sunday, Israel Radio reported.
	Earlier, Health Minister Haim Ramon said the forced exodus was aimed
at generating pressure on the Beirut government of Prime Minister Rafik
Hariri to crack down on pro-Iranian Hezbollah guerrillas.
	Israeli leaders are concerned about the threat Hezbollah poses to
northern Israeli settlements and its intention to oust Israel from its
self-declared ``security zone'' border strip in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah opposes the Arab-Israeli peace process as a sell-out of Arab
rights.
	Israeli authorities meanwhile continued sending children and senior
citizens southward, to locales out of range of the Soviet-made Katyusha
rockets used by Hezbollah guerrillas. Three volleys of Katyushas landed
in northern Israel Tuesday, with two people lightly wounded, Israel
Radio said.
	Two Israeli civilians have been killed and thirteen injured in
persistent Katyusha attacks since Sunday that have sent virtually the
entire population along the northern border into bomb shelters.
	Rabin, during the meeting, reportedly took issue with increasing
predictions of a protracted Israeli operation, saying he believed the
campaign would end ``in a matter of days.''
	But Ramon signalled the three-day old-campaign dubbed ``Operation
Accountability'' was not near completion.
	``No one expected that after a day of exodus of the Lebanese
residents it would influence those able to take decisions about
Hezbollah,'' said Ramon, referring to the Lebanese and Syrian
governments.
	``The exodus of the residents, their departure, in fact started just
yesterday afternoon, we are now a day after the exodus started,'' Ramon
told Israel Radio.
	Israel's leading military analyst, Ze'ev Schiff, wrote in the
Ha'aretz daily newspaper, that the Israeli strategy of pressing the
Beirut government by causing a civilian flight northwards would ``take
relatively much time.''
	``The Lebanese government is not anxious for a frontal confrontation
with Hezbollah,'' he wrote. ``Unless there is involvement from Damascus,
it is doubtful that the current pressures will suffice.'' Syria is the
main foreign power broker in Lebanon, and Israel has repeatedly urged it
to rein in Hezbollah.
	Ramon warned of a protracted period of danger along Israel's northern
border while the government awaited a hoped for crackdown by the
Lebanese and Syrian governments on Hezbollah.
	``We must display determination and patience and to the extent that
we display this now we will save ourselves casualties and the need to
face a reality in the not distant future in which Hezbollah again
attacks northern settlements,'' Ramon said.
	Yitzhak Mordechai, in charge of the army's northern command, added: 
``The IDF northern command is strong enough to continue its mission
unitl the other side will understand the lesson and stop the fire.''


    

I saw this internet submission posted in the TV notes file.  The last 
two paragraphs were interesting to me.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Article: 84989
Xref: ryn.mro4.dec.com alt.tv.la-law:1485 rec.arts.tv:84989
Newsgroups: alt.tv.la-law,rec.arts.tv
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From: [email protected] (Joanna L. Castillo)
Subject: LAL: Newspaper article on comings and goings
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Organization: The University of Texas System - CHPC
Date: Tue, 27 Jul 93 02:36:55 GMT
Lines: 49
 
The following article [reproduced without permission, natch] by our
local TV critic appeared in the Austin American-Statesman today 
(26-jul-1993).  Some of the stuff has been reported here before but this 
is the first time I've seen it all addressed in one article.
 
- - - - begin newspaper article
 
  The comings and goings on Steven Bochco's L.A. LAW continue.
 
  As previously announced, two characters from Bochco's canceled ABC 
  series CIVIL WARS will move to L.A. LAW next season.  The emotionally 
  troubled attorney Eli, played by Alan Rosenberg, will join the firm of
  MacKenzie Brackman, along with offbeat secretary Denise, played by 
  Debi Mazar.
 
  Although she is out of work since being dropped from CBS's LOVE & WAR,
  Susan Dey has declined an offer to reprise her role as Grace Van Owen
  on the NBC legal drama.
 
  Lisa Zane, who played Melina Paros, has been dropped, and Sheila 
  Kelley, who played law student Gwen, has left on her own accord.  
  Susan Ruttan, who played pregnant secretary Roxanne, has decided not 
  to return as a regular but will make "sporadic appearances," according
  do executive producer William Finkelstein.
 
  A new female associate will also join the firm in a role, as yet 
  uncast, that Finkelstein described as a "fundamentalist Christian."
  Finkelstein said the role was created partly as a response to 
  criticism that "religion is never portrayed on television except as
  the butt of jokes or as psychopathic personalities."
 
  "She is not a political character.  She's an attorney who happens to
  be a Christian, but she will weigh in with her opinions from time to
  time," Finkelstein continued.  "She won't be seen as an oddball.  Her
  faith will be a legitimate quality."
 
- - - - end newspaper article

 
--
| \____ ----- ____/           |  "Seriousness is the refuge of the     |
|      ( o o )                |     shallow"        -- Rita Mae Brown  |
|       \   /   Gus-ball!!    |  Joanna L. Castillo    (512) 471-3229  |
|        (_)  Hook 'em Horns! |      [email protected]      |
    

From: [email protected] (DALAL SAOUD)
Subject: Lebanon once again used for settling accounts
Date: Tue, 27 Jul 93 6:49:25 PDT

	BEIRUT (UPI) -- Israel has once more flexed its muscles and embarked
on a new military adventure in Lebanon with the strong determination to
restore calm to its northern territories.
	For a third consecutive day Tuesday, Hezbollah, Palestinian and
civilian locations in Lebanon were under heavy air, ground and sea
Israeli bombardement in three parts of the country.
	Although Israeli ground troops have not yet taken part in the
battles, the operation, dubbed ``Accountability,'' reminded the Lebanese
of the 1982 Israeli invasion that forced the evacuation of Palestinian
fighters from the country.
	The fresh Israeli military assaults apparently were meant to thwart
guerrilla attacks into northern Israel and destroy Hezbollah military
might.
	But a European diplomatic source in Beirut said Israel's other goal
was to wipe out any hope for Hezbollah's patron, Iran, to impose itself
as a big power in the region.
	``There is no place for any Iranian political decision and Tehran
should not be part of the Middle East equation,'' the source told United
Press International.
	Iran, which finances and trains Hezbollah, has been efforting to find
for itself a role in the new regional order following the Gulf War and
the collapse of the Soviet Union.
	It has strongly opposed the Arab-Israeli peace negotiations, which
are currently stalled, and called for combatting Israel to liberate
Palestine and Muslim shrines in Jerusalem.
	The diplomatic source said Israel decided to act, after agreeing with
international powers ``on some details,'' to remove Hezbollah's constant
threat and impose calm on its northern border.
	He said the Israeli military offensive was justified and said it
might help break the deadlock and push forward the Mideast peace talks.
	``Once the wick of violence and confrontation is removed, this would
result in more serious peace talks and more effective Syrian role in
Lebanon,'' the source said.
	Syria, the main power broker in Lebanon with some 35,000 troops on
two thirds of the country, is viewed as the only party capable of
helping controlling Hezbollah military power.
	The source said he believed that if Syria secured a more effective
role, conditions for the Arab parties at the Mideast peace talks would
improve and led to achieving progress.
	Syria has repeatedly voiced its support and the right of the Lebanese
people to resist the Israeli occupation.
	Meantime, Lebanon, which recently emerged from 16 years of civil war
and optimisticly launched its reconstruction process, seems helpless.
	Lebanese Information Minister Michel Samaha blamed the violence on
Israel, which occupies part of southern Lebanon.
	``The Israeli occupation is the cause and should be eliminated to re-
establish calm in the region,'' Samaha said.
	Lebanon joined the bilateral peace talks with the hope of regaining
control of its occupied land on the basis of United Nations Resolution
425, which calls for the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops and
restoring state control over all Lebanese territories.
	Resolution 425 was adopted after a limited Israeli invasion in March
1978.
	Samaha emphasized that despite the renewed Israeli attacks on
Lebanon, the Beirut government was reluctant to withdraw or freeze its
participation in the peace talks.
	``We entered the talks based on an unanimous Lebanese-Arab decision
and our withdrawal would be in understanding with our Arab brothers,''
the Lebanese official said.
	He said the Israeli attacks were but a new test of force that would
be probably linked to Israel's internal situation: ``To prepare the
Israeli public opinion for any Israeli concessions at the next round of
peace talks.''
	Whatever the goals behind such a military adventure may be, Lebanon
realizes it is still being used as a battlefield to settle accounts, and
is still paying the price for others' wars.


    

From: [email protected] (SID BALMAN Jr.)
Subject: U.S. blames Iran, Syria for fighting in Lebanon
Date: Tue, 27 Jul 93 10:50:19 PDT

	WASHINGTON -- The administration's top Middle East aide said Tuesday
Iran and to a lesser degree Syria could have prevented the renewed
hostilities between Israel and ``terrorist'' cells based in south
Lebanon.
	Assistant Secretary of State Ed Djerejian, a former ambassador to
Syria and President Clinton's nominee to head the U.S. diplomatic
mission in Israel, told Congress that Tehran supplies weapons and money
to the groups and Damascus allows them to operate in southern Lebanon.
	``The fighting in southern Lebanon today has been a deliberate
provocation by Hezbollah, a terrorist organization which receives
extensive support from Iran,'' Djerejian told a House Foreign Affairs
subcommittee.
	``We have had very in-depth discussions with the Syrian leadership...
to have them do whatever they can to control, to try to influence and to
at least stop the resupply of Hezbollah in Lebanon.''
	Hezbollah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
General Command, both staunchly anti-Israel and opposed to the Middle
East peace talks, operate out of the Bekaa Valley and have been engaged
in pitched air battles with Israeli troops this week.
	Syrian troops have occupied the valley for several years in what has
been ostensibly described as a peacekeeping mission.
	Syria agreed in a peace treaty that ended more than a decade of civil
war in Lebanon to begin withdrawing its soldiers last September, but its
troops have not budged. Syria lost six soldiers to Israeli air strikes
this week.
	The administration, which must balance criticism of Syria with the
value of Damascus' participation in the Middle East peace talks, has
said frequently that President Hafez Assad allows Iran to transship arms
to the guerrilla groups through Syria and turns a blind eye on narcotics
trafficking.
	The State Department this year placed Syria, Iran, Libya, Cuba, North
Korea and Iraq on the list of nation's that support international
terrorism.
	Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., said Syria's ``complicity with Hezbollah''
raises serious questions about its commitment to the faltering Middle
East peace process.
	``It would seem to me that if Syria really wanted to rein them in, it
could at least make an attempt to do so and they really have not,'' he
said.
	``Doesn't that say something about the Syrian intentions or the
Syrian sincerity in terms of really wanting to seek progress in the
peace negotiations?''
	Djerejian, whose diplomatic artistry has to a large degree kept Arab
and Jew at the negotiating table through nearly two years of unfruitful
talks, said Assad and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin maintain a
strong commitment to the peace process despite recent setbacks.
	``From our recent discussions in the region with Prime Minister Rabin
and President Assad, it is clear that these differences, however deep,
have not changed both parties' fundamental commitment to negotiate
peace,'' he said.
	Secretary of State Warren Christopher is scheduled to speak with
Israelis, Syrians, Palestinians, Lebanese and Jordanians about the
crisis and the peace talks during a visit to the region next week.


    

From: [email protected] (JONATHAN FERZIGER)
Subject: Israeli peace group says 'beware' in Lebanon
Date: Wed, 28 Jul 93 4:18:26 PDT

	JERUSALEM (UPI) -- A peace group that brought 400,000 citizens
together in 1982 to protest Israel's Lebanon War called on the
government Wednesday to exercise restraint in the latest military
campaign against its northern neighbor.
	Peace Now, whose popularity has waned as the conflict with the
Palestinians has intensified, expressed regret at the loss of life in
Lebanon caused by Israel's 4-day-old ``Operation Accountability.'' But
the grass-roots organization also suggested that the goal of retaliating
against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, which in the past two weeks had
killed seven Israeli soldiers and launched missiles against Israeli
border towns, was deserved.
	``During the artillery war now being waged on the Lebanese border,
our hearts are with the residents of the north and with our soldiers in
the security zone under the terror of Hezbollah,'' the group said in a
statement.
	``And yet, we think that the government initiative contains a real
danger of escalation.''
	Peace Now gained world attention with the massive rally it organized
11 years ago in downtown Tel Aviv after Israel's Lebanese Phalange
allies massacred Palestinian refugees in the Sabra and Shatilla camps
outside Beirut.
	The group said the injuring of civilians in the current conflict 
``raises grave moral issues.'' It expressed concern that Israel's use of
force would play into the hands of the Muslim radicals who want to
derail the Middle East peace process.
	``We call upon the government of Israel: Do what is necessary to
advance the peace talks and beware of exercising the force you have at
hand,'' the group said.
	Israel's Cabinet went into session again Wednesday morning and
decided to continue the operation, which has caused an estimated 150,000
residents of southern Lebanon to flee their homes because of the
relentless Israeli shelling. The bombardment by 175mm Howitzer cannons
arrayed in the self-declared ``security zone'' Israel controls in
southern Lebanon has continued non-stop since Sunday night.
	Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was scheduled to address the Knesset,
Israel's parliament, to discuss the ongoing military campaign.
	Hezbollah fighters have continued to fire their Soviet-made Katyusha
rockets into Israel's northern population centers, but the number has
tapered off in the face of Israeli air strikes. The missile attacks have
killed two Israeli civilians in the northern city of Kiryat Shemona,
injured about two dozen people and caused considerable property damage.
	Authorities warned residents of Kiryat Shemona and other border towns
and villages to remain in the bomb shelters where they have been living
since Sunday. Thousands of people have abandoned the area until the
shooting lets up and hundreds of children have been evacuated to summer
camps and community centers in the tranquil south.


    

From: [email protected] (ABDEL MAWLA KHALED)
Subject: Israeli relentless attacks force exodus
Date: Wed, 28 Jul 93 4:39:07 PDT

	SIDON, Lebanon (UPI) -- Israel resumed Wednesday its air, sea and
ground bombardment on guerrilla and civilian targets for the fourth day,
forcing thousands of civilians to evacuate their homes, military sources
and witnesses said.
	Medical reports indicated that some 60 people were killed and 220
were wounded during four days of relentless Israeli attacks that started
on Sunday.
	At dawn, the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein El Helweh near the
southern port city of Sidon came under Israeli shelling from ground and
sea forces that killed one person and wounded 12 Palestinian and
Lebanese civilians, the military sources said.
	Israeli shells crashed on Sidon harbor, preventing cargo ships from
approaching and paralyzing activity in the port, the sources said.
	Five civilians were wounded when Israeli gunboats blasted the coastal
village of Ghaziyeh, just south of Sidon, they said.
	Israeli Air Force jets staged a series of strikes on the Iqlim Al
Toffah region, a cluster of Shiite villages east of Sidon believed to be
hideout for and used by Hezbollah fighters to launch attacks against
Israeli forces.
	Civil defense sources said the air strikes inflicted large number of
casualties but were not able to give an accurate figure. One person was
killed and seven were wounded when a rocket hit their shelter in the
village of Qlaileh.
	The Shiite market town of Nabatiyeh, which has been mostly deserted
from its estimated 100,000 inhabitants, has been the target of heavy
Israeli shelling for the third consecutive day. At least eight people
were wounded.
	Many journalists were stuck in the town's sole hospital because of
the continuous shelling while doctors appealed on Lebanese authorities
and humanitarian groups for urgent help to supply them with gasoline,
food and medicine.
	A cameraman for a foreign television network said the ghost-like
region stretching east of the port city of Tyre and adjacent to the
Israeli-controlled ``security zone'' ``looked like a pile of rubble.''
	Inhabitants fled en masse after Israeli warplanes dropped flyers over
the cities of Sidon and Tyre as well as more than 30 villages, warning
them to leave immediately and that any ``mobile object will be subject
to fire.''
	Two cars, carrying fleeing civilians, were shortly afterwards
attacked by Israeli helicopters in Kfar Dounin and two ambulances,
rushing to evacuate casualties in Majdel Selim were hit and destroyed,
witnesses said.
	Following the Israeli warning, streets in Sidon and Tyre looked
deserted as people huddled in their homes and shelters while shops and
business closed, witnesses said.
	Many in cars, loaded with bedding and personal belonging collected in
a rush, crammed the highway leading to Beirut, causing a trafic jam
blocking the road for several hours.
	Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin acknowledged Tuesday that the
goal of the bombing was to spur a mass exodus of civilians toward Beirut
and pressure the Lebanese government and Syria to crack down on
Hezbollah.
	``We want to bring about a wave of flights by residents of the
villages and leave damages for whoever was a partner to the activities
of Hezbollah,'' said Rabin, quoted by state-run Israel Radio after
speaking to the parliamentary Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
	Only journalists, relief workers and guerrillas dared to venture to
villages in the frontlines.
	``It's miserable. Women and children with fear on their faces, many
of them crying, are trying to escape,'' said cameraman Hussein Haidar. 
``Tens of bodies, including children are scattered on the roads,
hospital morgues are overcrowded. Only God knows what would happen next.
''
	In eastern Lebanon starting midnight, Israeli jets, in eight
consecutive sorties, raided the villages of Maghghara, Yohmor, Zillaya
and Ein El Tineh, killing or wounding 14 people and destroying five
houses.
	Hezbollah guerrillas retaliated by infiltrating the security zone and
attacking a hilltop position of the Israeli-sponsored South Lebanon Army
militia in Baraachit. A tank was destroyed and a number of SLA
militiamen were killed or wounded.
	Lebanese Defense Minister Mohsen Dalloul headed to Sidon and
inspected Lebanese Army posts in southern Lebanon.


    

 The Boston Globe on Saturday had an article about an archeological find in 
 Israel that is the first non biblical evidence for the dysnasty of King David.
 They found a piece of a monument dated to the 9th Century bc..


 I'll type in more when I get a chance.

neat news - I'll enjoy reading whatever more you can put in about it.

Leslie

  If I ever get the time :-)   I have the article at home still.





 Jim

NOTE: Clarinet news articles may not be distributed outside of Digital (tech-
nically, to non-subscribers).

Article 4777 of clari.news.religion:
Path: nntpd.lkg.dec.com!crl.dec.com!crl.dec.com!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!news.kei.com!ub!decwrl!uunet!news2.uunet.ca!xenitec!looking!dogmead!clarinews
From: [email protected] (ROMA IHNATOWYCZ)
Newsgroups: clari.news.gov.international,clari.news.religion,clari.news.hot.east_europe,clari.news.hot.ussr,clari.news.children,clari.news.issues
Subject: Cult fever hits Ukraine
Keywords: international, non-usa government, government, cults, religion,
	children, special interest, misc social issues, social issues
Copyright: 1993 by UPI, R
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Date: Fri, 5 Nov 93 4:26:29 EST
Location: soviet union
ACategory: international
Slugword: ukraine-cult
Priority: regular
Format: regular
ANPA: Wc: 684/644; Id: a0242; Sel: na--i; Adate: 11-5-N/A
Approved: [email protected]
Codes: yigfrxx., yircrsu., yijcrsu., yixorsu., //na--i/, na--i
Lines: 68
Xref: nntpd.lkg.dec.com clari.news.gov.international:59894 clari.news.religion:4777 clari.news.hot.east_europe:15896 clari.news.hot.ussr:5573 clari.news.children:3476 clari.news.issues:5157

	KIEV (UPI) -- Police had detained 700 members of a religious cult by
this weekend as Kiev braces for their apocalyptic threats and frightened
parents search for missing children.
	The square was drawing thousands of White Brotherhood cult followers
at the call of their spiritual leader Maria Devi Christos.
	The square -- and full detention centers -- have become a refuge for
hundreds of desperate parents from across the former Soviet Union
searching for missing children.
	Natalya Semenchuk has spent the past three days at St. Sofia's Square
in central Kiev looking for her missing daughter.
	``My daughter's been missing for three months now and this is my last
hope,'' said Semenchuk.
	The anxious mother came down from St. Petersburg after hearing that
144,000 cult members were expected for ``judgment day,'' which the cult
set for Nov. 24, then moved up to Nov. 14.
	Ukrainian authorities have detained 700 ``white brothers'' since
Tuesday when they started congregating at the square. They've
confiscated tons of cult leaflets describing plans for a mass suicide on
the appointed day of reckoning. Their disjointed appeals describe
President Leonid Kravchuk as Pontius Pilate, police as zombies and
journalists as servants of the beast.
	This cult phenomenon -- new to the former Soviet Union -- has stumped
Ukrainian authorities. Extra police are on the streets and officials
have distributed brochures warning parents of the danger.
	In the Shevchenko region militia station, around the corner from St.
Sofia's Square, cult members are daily dragged in against their will.
They sit in locked chambers singing hymns and waving their fists to
hypnotic chants.
	Alla, 15, is a typical ``white brother.'' Young, attractive, well-
dressed and once a champion swimmer, she refuses to answer questions
about herself, refers queries to the sect newsletter and speaks only of
Maria Devi Christos.
	Alla's parents came from Moscow to find their daughter. She refused
to acknowledge them.
	Alla's parents, like many others, left their daughter in detention
rather than deal with a subsequent disappearance, or worse. Most cult
followers are young adults, but 121 children have been returned to their
parents.
	``It's every parent's worst nightmare,'' said Vera Karas, whose 15-
year-old son was found in Kiev Hospital No. 1. He, along with 177 other
detainees, are on a protest hunger strike, being fed intravenously. With
waning strength, they whisper religious chants.
	``Your heart bleeds when you see 16-, 17-year-olds, and they cannot
even relate to you,'' said Deputy Minister of Interior Valentyn
Nedryhailo. ``It's just the same 15 words over and over again.''
	Cult hysteria has swept the city. One elderly woman alerted police to
``white brothers'' operating in her building. They turned out to be
Mormons.
	Fear of the cult spreading throughout Ukraine prompted authorities to
take undemocratic measures without any protest from the public.
	Cult members have given up their identitification to their leaders,
and police are authorized to detain anyone without identifying
documents. Detained ``white brothers'' who are not returned to their
parents are kept in special centers with therapy until ``their conduct
returns to normal.''
	Cult founder Yuri Kryvonohov has been wanted by police since 1991.
His leading devotee, Maria Tsvygun, now Maria Devi Christos, is featured
in pictures plastered in subways and lampposts throughout the country,
dressed in white nun-like robe and turban, but her whereabouts are
unknown.
	Kryvonohov, wanted for charges including embezzling charity funds, is
thought to be abroad. Kryvonohov met Tsvygun when she was a journalism
student and he was giving ``extrasensory'' lessons in Kiev. She became
his best student and left her husband and son to turn cult leader.
	Authortities, desperate to stop the cult, have made public appeals.
Nedryhailo urged Kryvonohov to surrender, even offering to reduce his
pending charges.
	``The time for this horrible joke is over,'' Nedryhailo said.

 .302 has been set hidden and appropriate moderator action is taking
 place.




Jim

    Well, much to my chagrin I'm the culprit who got set hidden.
    
    :-) :-) :-) :-)
    
    I've decided that I cannot repost this note based on the conference
    guideline and have any type of dialogue that would stay in line with
    this conference's policy. Therefore, I took it to SOAPBOX 75.42 
    for anyone who wishes to read it and discuss it there.
    
    Sorry folks, I think it's worth reading and is important to every
    Christian who takes a stand against immorality.
    
    Nancy
    

                               
    From the radio this morning:
    
    	"For men between ages 25-44, AIDS is now the leading cause
         of death, surpassing accidents.  For women in the same age
         bracket, it is ranked as the fourth leading cause of death.
         For the US as a whole, it is now tenth."
    
    Cindy

    Following the horrific James Bulger murder trial last week, in which
    two 11 year old boys were found guilty, there have been attempts to
    blame the Church in Britain for not teaching right from wrong,
    including one attack from a Government minister.                 
    There is also a claim in another notesfile that the boys may have
    learned about stoning at their Church of England school and this is
    more likely to have influenced their behaviour than video nasties, as
    claimed by the judge at the trial.

    I heard last week that British nursery schools may be prevented from
    performing nativity plays and singing Christmas carols in the future
    because they are "politically incorrect".
    They either have to celebrate ALL religious festivals or none at all.      

 Well, they're doing a good job of getting "Christ" out of Christmas over
 here.  We now go "holiday" shopping, we have "holiday" parades and "holiday
 trees" and "holiday" cards, and "holiday" cookies, etc..


 
 Jim

    BUT... isn't *holiday* = to *Holy day*.....?
    
    But don't tell anyone... Cause if they find out, the word Holiday will
    be then politically incorrect too.
    
    If there is one thing I've learned in my last 10 month walk with the
    Lord is... Take Christ out of Christmas and all you have is a *mas* or
    a mess......
    
    Without Christ there is just a mess. This is true with everything. As
    we witness with Sex education in schools, and many of the other
    problems of the world today.....
    
    Let us try to put Christ back into Christmas. It'll be a tough fight,
    but it needs to be done... How do we start???
    
    Bob
    

>    Let us try to put Christ back into Christmas. It'll be a tough fight,
>    but it needs to be done... How do we start???

Christ hasn't been removed from Christmas for Christians who celebrate
Christ.

I don't think we (Christians) can force Christ into others' celebrations
when they don't know Christ to start with.  The real goal is for us to show
them what celebrating Christ is.  Love him, obey his commands, love others.
By that the Holy Spirit will draw some.

I guess that sometimes I wish everyone in the world would see Jesus as he
is and accept him.  Everything would be so much nicer.  I'm starting to
learn that things won't be like that until heaven.  Our only response
biblically speaking is to love God personally.  The US (and others?) is making
it tougher to do that publicly.  However, that doesn't stop your heart
from loving God.

I don't think I answered the original question, but... any thoughts?

-Steve

    That's the problem, though - I learned about God and Jesus at
    Kindergarten (I spent my nursery years in Germany). My parents were not
    religious themselves. The first hymn I ever learned was "Away in a
    Manger". 
    
    What are they going to ban for schoolchildren next? Handel's Messiah is
    definately out, I suppose. No Bach - he was a Church organist. Will
    they re-write history from a Politically Correct stance? And what about
    Art History?
    
    How can children learn the difference between right and wrong from the
    Church when the whole basis of our faith is declared "Politically
    Incorrect" by the nursery school authorities?                       

 I'm convinced that there are those who do not want them to learn.  "They"
 want a politically correct society, where there are no absolutes, no right/
 no wrong, etc..remember the song by John Lennon "Imagine"?




Jim

    San Francisco Chronicle October 1993. Reprinted in Private Eye.


    "What happened will haunt me for ever," Julius Mwinyi of the Seventh
    Day Adventist church told the Coroner's Court in Dar es Salaam. "One
    minute they were chanting `Our faith in the Lord will sustain us,' the
    next they had suddenly disappeared below the surface."

    Mwinyi, 43, described the events leading up to the tragedy which was
    believed to have claimed eighteen lives. "We were all on a pilgrimage,
    setting out in a flotilla of canoes across Lake Victoria to a religious
    festival at Mwanza. We started singing hymns. However some ruffians in
    a passing cruiser shouted obscenities at us, and suggested that we
    should all test our faith by walking on water like Jesus. Our minister
    shouted back, telling them that we would do just that. Next thing,
    seventeen unfortunate souls stood up in their canoes cried out
    `Allelujah', then joined hands with the minister and began chanting.
    Then they stepped out of the canoes and sunk like stones. The police
    spent three days recovering the bodies but never found them all. It's
    the crocodiles you see. I suppose that crocodiles are God's creatures,
    but all the same I'd wipe them out. Anyway my faith remains unshaken."

I just read an article this morning about some court action involving Operation
Rescue.  It was very disparaging of OR, but I've come to expect that.  But one
thing that stood out to me was this:

At one point, the author referred to abortion itself as "abortion-day surgery."
What cowardice!  She couldn't just say "The person had an abortion."  She
claims it as a right, but is ashamed to even name it, she has to come up with a
euphemistic "abortion-day surgery."

yuck.

Paul

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    RTw  12/06 1400  FORMER PRIEST GETS 18-TO-20 YEARS FOR CHILD ABUSE

    By Christopher Wilson

    BOSTON, Dec 6 (Reuter) - A former Roman Catholic priest was sentenced
    Monday to 18-to-20 years in prison for molesting 28 children in one of
    the worst-ever cases of sexual abuse involving a member of the U.S.
    clergy.

    James Porter, who left the priesthood in 1974 and is now married with
    four children, was sentenced to several concurrent jail terms by Judge
    Robert Steadman in a superior court in Bristol County, Massachusetts,
    after pleading guilty to 41 counts of sexual assault between 1960 and
    1968.

    The 18-to-20 year term -- the longest of the concurrent sentences
    imposed -- meant that Porter will serve a minimum of six years in
    prison before becoming eligible for parole.

    He was also ordered to be placed on probation for another 10 years
    after he is paroled and will not be allowed to be alone with minor
    children without supervision.

    Porter, in handcuffs, was taken immediately after sentencing to prison
    in Cedar Junction, Massachusetts.

    Porter was indicted in September last year after many of his victims
    came forward to complain about having been abused by the priest when he
    served at three Massachusetts parishes.

    Twenty-two of Porter's victims -- now adult men and women -- made
    emotional statements in court before the sentencing Monday. They spoke
    of the impact on their lives of the abuse inflicted when they were
    children and urged the judge to impose a heavy sentence.

    The prosecution had sought two consecutive sentences of 18 to 20 years,
    meaning that Porter would have had to serve a minimum of 12 years.

    The ex-priest's victims told of being haunted by emotional problems,
    depression, alcohol and drug abuse, difficulties in relationships,
    legal problems and psychological turmoil that was carried over into
    their own families.

    "I still cry when I see children playing today," one of his victims
    told the court. "I feel as if I have been and continue to carry a dead
    child within me."

    At his trial last month, Porter, 58, a graying, bespectacled man,
    pleaded guilty to dozens of counts of sodomy, indecent assault and
    child molestation.

    "I cannot adequately describe the disgust that I feel when I confront
    the terrible things that I have done to so many people," Porter
    tearfully told the court before sentencing.

    "Every time I look in the mirror, my mind makes me see the monster that
    I was. My conduct will stain my life until I die."

    The case has been called one of the worst-ever of pedophilia by a
    member of the clergy in the United States, and provoked sharp criticism
    of the Catholic church by showing that although Porter was accused of
    abuse as early as 1963, he was not disciplined and was transferred from
    parish to parish across the country, where his list of victims grew.

    It sprang to national and international attention last year when Porter
    admitted in a television interview that he had molested over 100
    children all over the country during his time as a parish priest in
    Massachusetts, New Mexico, Minnesota and Nevada.

    All of Porter's victims in Massachusetts were under 16. A total of 99
    men and women from southeastern Massachusetts have accused Porter of
    abusing them, and 68 of them were part of a reported $5 million
    settlement of a civil law suit against the Catholic church in the
    diocese of Fall River.

    Porter's assaults continued even after he left the priesthood, married
    and settled in St Paul, Minnesota, where he raised a family.

    Last December a Minnesota court found him guilty and sentenced him to
    six months in prison for molesting his childrens' baby sitter in 1987.
    He also faces civil lawsuits in Minnesota and New Mexico for allegedly
    molesting children.

    REUTER

[Clarinet news articles are copyrighted and may not be distributed outside of
Digital.]

Path: nntpd.lkg.dec.com!pa.dec.com!decwrl!looking!newsbytes
From: [email protected]
Newsgroups: clari.nb.trends
Subject: UK Banks Introduce Mondex, The Cashless Cash Card 01/06/94
Keywords: Bureau-LON
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 94 15:51:52 EST
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Approved: [email protected]
Lines: 38

LONDON, ENGLAND, 1994 JAN 6 (NB) -- Midland, National
Westminster (Natwest), and British Telecommunications (BT) are 
cooperating on a cashless cash card project known as Mondex. To 
be pilot-tested in Swindon next year, the card is essentially a 
smart card that stores up to UKP20 ($30) worth of cash.

In use, the card does not require a personal identification number
(PIN), although users can lock the cards using a secret code. The
idea is that the card will replace cash for low-value transactions
of, typically, up to UKP 2. When the card "runs out" of cash, it
can be reloaded from the cardholder's bank account at specially
modified Midland and Natwest automated teller machines (ATMs), 
as well as BT card phones.

According to Tim Jones, one of the two NatWest managers who 
devised Mondex, the card is designed to replace cash, not existing 
debit and credit cards. No PIN or signature is used, as cash 
transactions have no security of this nature. A locked Mondex card, 
he said, is worthless to a finder without the unlock code.

"Our strategy is that in 10 to 15 years time, we will see the phone
as the dominant way in which electronic money is drawn and
deposited," Jones said.

Derek Wanless, Natwest's chief executive, said: "Although Mondex
will be launched in the UK, it is a major commercial opportunity for
banks everywhere. Mondex is a multi-currency product, capable of
holding five separate currencies on a card simultaneously."

Wanless added that other British and foreign banks would be 
invited to join Mondex in due course to create a "truly global 
payment scheme".

(Steve Gold/19940106/Press & Public Contact: British Telecom,
44-71-356-5000; Midland Bank, 44-742-528000; Natwest Bank,
44-71-726-1000)

 Topic now open for business.  Unfortunately your bumbling moderator
 made a bit of a mess of things and some news items may appear in the
 discussion topic (16).  


 my apologies.



 Jim

According to an article in the Meridian Star, Joel Ford of Meridian,
Mississippi, filed suit against Oxford University Press in U.S. District
Court in Jackson, Mississippi on the 14th of September.

He is seeking $45 million dollars in damages and alteration of texts
in the world's most widely read book:  The Bible.

It's Case # 4:94CV103LN

The court issued a summons to Oxford University Press on Monday.

On the cover sheet, Joel Ford wrote (approximately):

	I am filing a complaint under U.S. Code 320 (personal injury)
	because of the anti-black, anti-xxx statements made in the bible
	published by Oxford University Press.  I am black and xxx and
	have been discriminated against all my life.

I'm sending $3.00 to the court to get a copy of the entire complaint.

Because of "xxx", discussion of this needs to be in Soapbox, Topic 1842.

/john

From:	52534::"[email protected]" "Charles Mok" 18-OCT-1994 03:15:14.42
To:	icthus::yuille
Subj:	Huffington Wife May Be In Cult

Subject: Huffington Wife May Be In Cult
Date: Thu, 13 Oct 94 20:10:13 PDT

	LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A group of former cult adherents on Thursday
accused the wife of Senate GOP hopeful Michael Huffington of lying
about her involvement with a controversial spiritual leader.
	Although Arianna Huffington has said she curtailed her
activities with John-Roger and his Movement of Spiritual Inner
Awareness, disgruntled former members of the group said she
remained active as late as last year.
	A spokeswoman for the Huffington campaign called the allegation
an ``outrageous'' attempt to promote a book written by one of Mrs.
Huffington's critics.
	Mrs. Huffington is a practicing member of the Greek Orthodox
Church, said campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Grossman.
	In recent interviews Mrs. Huffington, a bestselling author, has
said she became a born-again Christian and cut her ties to the
Santa Monica-based church led by John-Roger eight years ago.
	Mrs. Huffington's links to John-Roger became a campaign issue,
in part, because of the high profile she has taken.She has debated
in place of her husband, a freshman Santa Barbara congressman, at
numerous campaign appearances.
	One of Huffington's campaign themes, a call to replace the state
welfare system with charity and volunteerism, echoes her most
recent book, ``The Fourth Instinct: The Call of the Soul.''
	Mrs. Huffington has said her association with the group and its
leader was intellectual, not spiritual, and that it ended in 1986.
	Former followers who participated in Thursday's telephone news
conference told a different story. They said the candidate's wife
eventually became a full-fledged MSIA minister, participating in
cult activities as late as the fall of last year.
	``Arianna is simply not telling the truth. Her level of
dishonesty is simply astonishing,'' said Peter McWilliams, who
wrote a book about John-Roger after leaving the organization last
March.
	McWilliams said his news conference was not sponsored by or
coordinated with the campaign of Huffington's opponent, Democratic
Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
	But Huffington campaign spokeswoman Grossman said the former
cult members' motives were political.
	``Peter McWilliams can hold conference calls every single day
from now until November, but that won't deter the Huffington
campaign from focusing on the real issues real voters care about,''
she said.
	McWilliams devoted a chapter in his book ``Life 102: What to do
When Your Guru Sues You,'' to Mrs. Huffington. The rest of the book
deals with the spiritual leader's movement.
	Few of the allegations were new. It marked the first time,
however, that a group of former cult members have come forward to
talk on the record about Mrs. Huffington and MSIA activities.
	Some news conference participants expressed fear that if
Huffington is elected, he will be under John-Roger's control
through Mrs. Huffington.
	``He is, I feel, being manipulated by his wife and his whole
platform is being established by his wife, and therefore it would
be like having John-Roger elected to the Senate,'' said Victor
Toso, of St. Paul, Minn., who identified himself as a former MSIA
minister.
	John-Roger, 60, claims to have awakened after a 1963 kidney
stone operation reborn as John the Beloved, one of Jesus Christ's
12 apostles. He founded the church in 1971.



% ====== Internet headers and postmarks (see DECWRL::GATEWAY.DOC) ======
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% Date: Mon, 17 Oct 1994 19:13:21 +0800
% From: [email protected] (Charles Mok)
% Message-Id: <[email protected]>
% To: icthus::yuille
% Subject: Huffington Wife May Be In Cult
% X-Sun-Charset: US-ASCII

	For the documents filed in U.S. District Court in the case of
	Joel Ford vs. the Bible and Oxford University Press,

	see PEAR::SOAPBOX 1842.47

	It's interesting, but it cannot be discussed in this conference.

/john

    

#9  THOUSANDS SEEK VIRGIN MARY IN INDIA

   BANGALORE, India, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- Tens of thousands of people have been
heading to the former Portuguese colony of Goa to catch a glimpse of the
Virgin Mary, but religious leaders on Monday said most have been
disappointed.
   According to the devout, a vision of the Virgin Mary has appeared in the
skies above the chapel of St. Jude and Simon in Goa.
   But church authorities, who are reserving judgment on the unproven
phenomena, say few have actually seen the vision.
   "It is simply too early to say what is happening here," Father Loyola
Periera said.
   On the first Saturday of each month for the past several months, tens of
thousands of people have been flocking to the tiny Indian Union Territory
of Goa.
   "It isn't a matter of sight, it's a matter of faith," a local churchgoer
said.
   The Virgin Mary craze in Goa started several months ago when a
hairdresser from Canada claimed to have seen the holy sight in the sun.
   Yvette Gomes claims the Virgin Mary told her: "You are my beloved
children, but you are not praying enough."
   Gao has one of the largest Christian populations in predominantly Hindu
India.
   Similar Virgin Mary sightings have been reported in history at various
places in the world, according to the Catholic church.

------------------------------

    

Article 6290 of clari.news.religion:
From: [email protected] (AP)
Newsgroups: clari.news.religion,clari.world.mideast.israel,biz.clarinet.sample
Distribution: clari.apo
Subject: Vatican, PLO Establish Ties

	VATICAN CITY (AP) -- The Vatican established official ties
Tuesday with the PLO, strengthening its claim for a voice in the
Middle East peace process and on the future of Jerusalem.
	In 1982, Pope John Paul II drew sharp protests from Israel when
he received PLO leader Yasser Arafat at the Vatican. At the time,
Israel branded Arafat a terrorist.
	But Israel and the PLO have since signed a peace treaty and the
Vatican recognized Israel 10 months ago, both evidence of the
sweeping changes in the Middle East political map.
	Tuesday's agreement calls for an office of representation of the
Palestine Liberation Organization at the Holy See. The papal envoy
in Tunisia, headquarters of the PLO, will be responsible for
contacts with the PLO.
	The move falls short of full diplomatic relations.
	A joint statement released by the Vatican said the agreement
will enable the Roman Catholic Church to carry out its ``spiritual,
educational and social service in favor of Palestinian Catholics
and of all Palestinians'' and help the two sides contribute to the
``search for peace and justice.''
	The announcement came a day before Israel and Jordan were
scheduled to sign a peace treaty. The Vatican also established
relations with Jordan this year.
	The statement said the two sides committed themselves to
cooperate in preserving the ``religious and cultural values'' of
the Holy Land, particularly Jerusalem, one of the most sensitive
issues in the Middle East peace process. The city is central to the
Christian, Muslim and Jewish faiths.
	Israel, which took Arab-dominated east Jerusalem in the 1967
Middle East war, claims the entire city as its capital.
Palestinians say it should be part of their own independent state.
	Papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro stressed that the Vatican has
not changed its position regarding unresolved issues, including the
question of what he called ``an appropriate status'' for Jerusalem.
The Vatican has long sought some form of international guarantee
for the holy sites.
	The statement also said Tuesday's agreement should be ``an
element of encouragement and hope'' for the Palestinian people in
their efforts ``to attain, in freedom and independence, its
inalienable rights.''

    News article from the Jewish Voice Prophetic Magazine.
    
    The United Nations is now nearly 50 years old; however it has served a
    different purpose since the end of the cold war. It's obviously no
    longer just a "debating institution". Today we hear and see "U.N.
    troops" "U.N. buffer zones", and much more. We see the blue helmeted
    U.N. soldiers as work in Bosnia, the Gulf war, Lebanon, Somalia, and
    soon Haiti. At first, Americans breathe a sigh of relief that it's not
    just the U.S. troops sticking their necks out all alone. But the day is
    fast approaching when all other armies - including U.S. forces, will
    play a subservient role to U.N. forces around the globe. Keep in mind
    that both Presidents Bush and Clinton have sought and gained U.N. 
    approval in the Gulf war, and Haiti, respectively. They by-passed our
    own Congress and Constitution.
    
    The United Nations is being groomed to be the coming "world government"
    of the fast approaching "one world system" of Revelation 13. Or call it
    the "New World Order" if you prefer.
    
    But now the body has taken on a new goal that is intended to reduce
    world population. In early September, they became "ambassadors of
    abortion" with strong U.S. support, at the U.N. Humand Development
    Program (UNDP) in Cairo, Egypt. The primary focus of this UNDP
    gathering was world population control.
    
    A follow-up event of the UNDP is planned for March, 1995 in Denmark. If
    you doubt it's "one world agenda" just consider the topics of
    discussion. The agenda includes discussion of implementing a world
    court; a world police, and the disbanding of the worlds armies; a world
    central bank and a world treasury; a world trade organization which
    would regulate "free trade" and dictate trading quotas for nations
    (NAFTA and GATT treaties are but stepping stones for the one-world
    system). Also on the discussion table will be a global taxation and a
    global income tax. And there will be more discussion about the world's
    overpopulation and how to reduce it from over 5 billion down to 2
    billion people. Abortion will be the popular means of "genocide". In
    September, this was endorsed by most all of the nations. The U.S. and
    Vice President Al Gore endorsed all the plans outlined at that time.
    
    The headquarters of the United Nations are in New York; yet what is
    desired is a centralized system as currently the U.N. has offices in
    nine cities in Europe, the U.S., and Canada. It has been suggested that
    the ideal place to centralize would have to be the single global
    governing body headquarted in Europe. Again the images of Revelation 13
    come into focus. Waiting in the wings is "Mr. Fix-it" - called the
    antichrist in the Bible. He will rule a world wide body - likely to be
    the U.N. All the players are lining up to take their role, including
    the U.S. Get familiar with the "grobal 2000" theme as it picks up steam
    on the way to the year 2000, when, in the eyes of a deceived U.N., the
    world will be one, living in peaceful, stable times.
           

    This is why you should encourage your congressperson to reject GATT. 
    Under this "treaty" we would be bound to accept and follow laws that
    other countries do under GATT.  If you don't cooperate, we jeopardize
    economic relations.
    
    Mike

    In some parts of the world Christians are still being crucified,
    quite literally so.  News agencies report that five Christians
    have been crucified since July in Sudan, one being an Anglican
    priest.  The detail is supplied that the executioners used six-
    inch-long nails.  In Wad Medani two Catholic converts have been
    sentenced by an Islamic law court to be crucified.  Anglican
    Bishop Daniel Zindo reports that widows and orphans of slain
    Christian men are sold into slavery in north Sudan and Libya for
    $15 per slave.  Such behavior does put a strain on hopes for
    better Christian-Muslim relations.

					-- "First Things", December 1994

* In August, Cindy Hartman, 26, startled a burglar
when, upon encountering him in her home in Conway,
Ark., she dropped to her knees and began to pray for
him.  The man apologized and called to his partner
outside, "We've got to [give back] all of this.  This
is a Christian home.  We can't do this."  The two
burglars brought back the items they had stolen and
even left their gun with her. [Santa Maria Times,
Aug94] 

 On a similar note, during the summer I was listening to a "Focus on the
 Family" broadcast and a woman was sharing a story of how a man kidnapped
 her and forced her to drive somewhere..during the process she shared Christ
 with the man (who had murdered 2 people) and he was saved and gave himself
 up.




Jim

	  VANCOUVER, British Columbia, (Reuter) - A Canadian choir
prepared to sing its usual program of popular Christmas carols
at the British Columbia legislature Thursday after resolving a
conflict over a government edict to avoid songs about Jesus
Christ.

	 A furor erupted after government officials told the choir to
perform songs that reflected Canada's ethnic diversity and avoid
overtly religious carols.

	 ``This year we were ordered to sing carols that do not
include 'Christ' or 'Jesus.' They had to be non-Christian ...
part of the move to so-called political correctness, I
suppose,'' said one choir member.

	 After an outpouring of protest, government officials rushed
to dispel the notion they had ordered the move, saying there had
been a misunderstanding.

	 ``Lord help us. Last time I checked this was a religious
celebration,'' said provincial health minister Paul Ramsey.

	 The choir sings on the steps of the legislature in the city
of Victoria at a Christmas tree lighting every year.

	 Some bureaucrats were reportedly upset at the singing last
year of ``Silent Night'' which contains references to the Virgin
Mary and the infant Jesus.

    take Christ out of Christmas carols and you have 
    
    ______mess carols....
    
    What is this world coming to?
    

 A number of schools in NH have taken Christmas carols out of their
 school "winter" programs, even Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (since
 it mentions Christmas)..what foolishness.




Jim

� Some bureaucrats were reportedly upset at the singing last
� year of ``Silent Night'' which contains references to the Virgin
� Mary and the infant Jesus.

There's always some people will be upset by the truth.  The horrifying part 
is that such unbalanced people are entrusted with responsibility in our 
society.

								Andrew

 The US Postal service has instructed employees that they are not to say "Merry
 Christmas" to customers, or have any decorations that say "Christmas" or that
 point to any specific religious significance of the holiday..they can say
 "Happy Holidays" or "Season's greetings"..




 It was nice going into the local Christian bookstore today..once could say
 "merry Christmas" or say "Christmas presents"..I'm getting rather weary
 hearing commercials on the radio/tv that say "Holiday shopping" or "Holiday
 gifts" or "Holiday wrapping paper", etc..people seem to be falling all over
 themselves to keep from saying "Christmas"..



 Jim

Moments before the annual concert at which students at Primrose Hill
School in Barrington, Rhode Island, were to sing Christmas and Chanuka
songs, the principle caved in to a complaint from a furious parent.

The word "Christ" was removed from all the carols, because it proclaims
that Jesus is the messiah or anointed one, which this parent refused to
allow the school children to use in song.

For example:

	"Jesus Christ is born today" was changed to
	"Je-e-sus is born today".

/john

 Read a brief report in this month's American Family Association Journal
 that mentioned a video that a former member of the Christian rock group
 "Stryper" put together.  It promoted abstinence.  He tried to get 
 MTV to show it.  They refused.


 Also, MTV has been showing a clip which is imitates a testimony that 
 one might see on The 700 Club.  However, instead of showing someone
 who left the things of the World and found Christ, a "Christian" woman
 leaves the "intollerance" of Christianity after "finding" MTV and rock
 music...(Again according to AFA Journal).

 Update to .332..



Last night WBZ TV (Boston) did a piece on the Post Office and their
campaign to eliminate the religious significance of Christmas (and
Chanukah for that matter).  The manager cheerfully reported that they
had removed any decorations that had any religious appearance (much to
the consternation of the customers), as the employees blandly said "Happy
holidays" to the customers.  The reporter then pointed out that there was
a mailbox for "letters to Santa" that had "Merry Christmas" posted on it.
The manager said that somehow they had missed that and would replace it
with Happy Holidays ASAP.



Jim

 Reminder...discussion of "Religion in the News" takes place in 
 topic 16.




Jim Co-mod who also needed reminding

    OXFORD, Miss. (AP) -- A 7-year-old was humiliated in class when he
    objected  to hearing prayers in his public school, his mother said
    Tuesday as she filed  suit to stop the religious practice. 

    A second-grade teacher asked Jason Herdahl to wear headphones in order
    to  drown out the prayers, and he was made fun of and called names like
    "football  head," Lisa Herdahl said at a news conference. 

    Herdahl said the lawsuit was a last resort in her yearlong effort to 
    eliminate prayer and Bible study from classes attended by her five
    children,  who are in kindergarten through ninth grade at North
    Pontotoc Attendance  Center in Ecru. 

    She said her children were "stigmatized by school officials, and teased
    and  harassed by other students" because they elected not to
    participate in Bible  classes or prayer. She said they have been
    taunted so much that they no longer  want to attend class. 

    The school serves about 1,300 students from kindergarten through high 
    school and is the only public school in the area. Prayers are fed into 
    classrooms by intercom. 

    Public schools in Mississippi have traditionally allowed prayer over 
    intercoms at the start of the school day, saying they do not violate
    the  Supreme Court ban on public school prayers because students
    initiate them. 

    "We plan to vigorously defend our practices -- we feel it's
    constitutional  and doing good for the students," Pontotoc school
    superintendent Jerry Horton  said Monday. "We don't consider it a
    state-sponsored prayer or for people to  do it or listen to it." 

    The school's practices are "not even close to the line between 
    constitutional and unconstitutional," said Judith Schaeffer of People
    for the  American Way. The civil rights group and the American Civil
    Liberties Union  sued on Herdahl's behalf. 

    Herdahl said that, when her children entered the school in October
    1993,  she was told Bible teachers from various churches went to the
    school regularly  and taught Christian principles to children in the
    lower grades. 

    Herdahl said her children were baptized as Lutherans. 

    "I simply do not want the school telling my children how and when to
    pray,"  Herdahl said. "Prayer is something that my children learn at
    home and in our  church. It is ironic that in the name of religion my
    children are forced to  face daily ridicule and cruelty." 

    Over the past year, Herdahl repeatedly asked the school to stop
    sanctioning  the teaching of religion. "They never responded," she
    said, "except to say  they would deal with it at a further meeting.
    They never did." 

    Jason only wore the headphones a few times, Herdahl said, "because his 
    teacher was disturbed by it and called me." Herdahl said the teacher
    told her  that someone else had instructed her to put the headphones on
    the child. 

	BOSTON (AP) -- The gunman had fierce-looking eyes and was
swearing religious oaths as he sprayed the abortion clinic lobby
with gunfire.

	``He looked like the devil,'' said security guard Richard Seron,
who fired back at the man. ``He had a fierce look in his eyes, and
his eyebrows were in a deep frown and his eyes had a manic quality
about them.

	``I would say that he was a proficient madman.''

	John C. Salvi III, 22, was arrested Saturday in Norfolk, Va.,
after he allegedly shot at ground-floor windows in a building
housing that city's Hillcrest Clinic. No one was hurt.

	Salvi, described by acquaintances as a Scripture-quoting loner,
faces charges in the slayings of two women and the wounding of five
other people in shootings Friday at two abortion clinics in
suburban Boston.

	Salvi was jailed without bail pending a court appearance
Tuesday. Outside the Norfolk jail Sunday, anti-abortion activists
knelt to pray, some carrying pictures of aborted fetuses. One sign
read ``John Salvi -- Prisoner of War.''

	Inside the jail, Salvi appeared relaxed and had talked with jail
personnel, Norfolk police spokesman Larry Hill said Sunday. He had
not been interviewed by investigators.

	``He's been calm throughout,'' Hill said. ``He is talking to
people and is sociable.''

	Seron, 45, was the security guard at Preterm Health Services,
the second clinic hit, where one woman died and one woman was
wounded. Seron was shot in the hand and arm in the gunfight.

	``He made some sort of religious oath. It ran something like
this, `in the name of the mother of God,' as he was firing at me
and spraying my position,'' Seron said in a telephone interview
from his Quincy home Sunday.

	Seron worked two jobs at the clinic on Friday. From 6:45 a.m. to
9:15 a.m., he was the uniformed security guard. He then changed
into a white lab coat to work in the stockroom and was still
wearing his gun when he heard shots.

	``A little voice in my mind said, `Get out there and save the
girls,''' he said.

	Opening the door from the stockroom, he saw a wounded woman,
Jane Sauer, 29, on the floor by a copy machine.

	Seron said he caught the gunman's eye and they both swung their
weapons toward one another.

	``I raised my gun and made my only truly aimed shot in his
direction, and he sprayed back at me, and I got behind the door to
stay out of harm's way,'' he said.

	Seron said he then fired at the gunman from around the door
without really aiming, a military and police tactic he had learned
in training.

	He was shot in the hand and in the upper arm but kept firing.

	Seron said he pulled his arm back in and tried to push his door
closed at about the same time the gunman left the clinic -- leaving
behind a duffel bag that proved crucial to the investigation.
Investigators said it contained a handgun, ammunition and a receipt
from a shooting range and gun shop.

	It was the first time Seron has been under fire. He prays it
will be his last, and can't forget Lee Ann Nichols, the
receptionist whose life he couldn't save.

	``I wish that I could wish it all away, just make it
disappear,'' he said.

	Meanwhile, Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., soon to be majority leader, on
Sunday described the attacks on the clinics as acts of terrorism.
He said clinics might need more federal protection.

	``Obviously, this is murder, terrorism, call it what you will,''
Dole said on the CBS News program ``Face the Nation.''

	LEESBURG, Va. (AP) -- Since St. Benedict prescribed the rule of
``prayer and work'' for monks in the first century, their labors
have most often been hands-on tasks like copying manuscripts,
farming and raising animals.

	But 30 monks and nuns at six monasteries have now adopted
technology to their efforts to lead productive -- and pious -- lives.

	They have turned their hands to new tasks on computers, entering
and checking data for publications, indexes and library catalogs as
the primary contractors for Electronic Scriptorium Ltd., a company
based in Leesburg, about 30 miles west of Washington.

	Edward M. Leonard, the company's president, allowed that some
older monks look askance at his information management business.

	``But the younger monks just love it,'' he said. ``They see the
computer as an extension of the monastery and something holy.''

	Electronic Scriptorium got its start when Holy Cross Abbey in
Berryville, not far from Leesburg, hired Leonard in October 1991
for a six-month stint to bring their fruitcake business on-line. It
gave him a chance to leave his job with a Washington computer
manufacturer and develop his own business.

	``At the end of six months of working with the monks, I realized
here was a competent and underemployed work force,'' Leonard said.

	A friend suggested to him that the monks could catalog the
medical records of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. The next
contract was to convert the 10,000-card catalog of Yale
University's undergraduate library to an electronic system.

	Opening an office in 1992, Leonard hired employees to train the
monks to provide services like converting library card catalogs,
electronic text verification and creating document indexes.

	Leona Wilkins, the head librarian for the Amherst County Public
Library, said Electronic Scriptorium's $12,000 bid for converting
its 32,000-card catalog was the lowest of three bids it received
last winter.

	She attributed Electronic Scriptorium's ``remarkably
error-free'' results to the lack of distraction in the lives of the
monks at the Monastery of the Holy Cross in Chicago who handled
that particular assignment.

	``They were taking prayer breaks, not coffee breaks,'' she said.
``They weren't worried about what to serve for dinner that night,
or what they were doing that weekend.''

	Each of the six monasteries working for Electronic Scriptorium
owns its own computer equipment, with one in New Mexico spending
about $12,000 for eight personal computer workstations.

	``If they buy their own equipment, if they make an investment in
the job, they will be committed,'' Leonard said.

	Leonard said the monks function as subcontractors -- he sends
checks to a corporation each monastery has set up. ``They already
have this existing infrastructure and they're making money with it
because Father John is already living there -- there's no additional
cost.''

	He said each monk earns an hourly wage of $8 to $12.

	At the Monastery of the Holy Cross the work of three monks and a
nun is providing the majority of the community's income, Father
Patrick Creeden said. The Roman Catholic monastery has been
converting library catalogs since January.

	The work has allowed the brothers to quit their outside jobs.

	One was bagging groceries, Creeden was a hospital chaplain and
another worked at a nursing home. The switch has helped the monks
achieve their mission of a contemplative life in the city because
they are all now available for group prayer, Creeden said.

	Creeden said St. Benedict probably would approve of this new
work, and notes that monks working in libraries and scriptoriums of
the pre-printing age were also using their hands.

	``It was a lot of work. They didn't just buy paper at the
stationary store,'' he said. ``It had to be made and ruled and
etched.''

	As a member of the Monks of Jerusalem, an urban contemplative
order that seeks to confront the problems of cities, Creeden said
the computers seem appropriate. ``What could be more contemporary
than cyberspace?''

	Creeden, who had prior experience with word processing, said the
idea of modern monks as untouched by computers is mistaken. Brother
Lary Pearce of Incarnation Priory in Berkeley, Calif., said many
monks use computers in their work and research.

	``I used a computer at our Mount Carmel retreat house in Santa
Barbara, and I have my own personal computer for work on my
Ph.D.,'' Pearce said.

	The brothers at the Episcopal priory have processed bulk orders
for periodicals from university libraries, research institutes and
government agencies since September.

	Leonard also said the monks shouldn't be viewed as emerging from
the Dark Ages to join the 20th century. Instead, he thinks the
monks are an example of employees of the future. ``They're
intelligent, competent and very sophisticated home workers,'' he
said.

	Electronic Scriptorium has grown from four employees and one
monastery to 13 employees working with monks at six communities.
Leonard said estimated 1994 revenue was about $1 million but would
not disclose profits.

	The Berryville monks who inspired the business are no longer
taking part. But Leonard said he sends them regular donations in
gratitude for their role in getting him started.

  Heard on the 700 Club tonight that some group in Calif is trying to make
  it mandatory that Christian schools introduce other religions in their
  curriculum, and that Christian School Chapel services be optional for
  students..


  Jim

    This is correct... and we are fighting it tooth and nail.
    
    

 I had hoped that this was just a rumor :-(



 Do you have any more info?

Yes, if you are fighting it tooth and nail, you must have some details.

What is the name of the group?

Exactly what is their proposal?

Has it been introduced into the legislature?

Will the requirement apply to all schools, including public, Jewish, and
Moslem schools, or just to Christian schools?

Would it possibly be a good thing to require a comparative religion course
in public schools?

/john

 Based on what I heard last night, the Amercian Center for Law and Justice
 is going to be taking the case..They discussed another case they had
 succesfully tried recently where a woman who sells real estate was told
 to remove the fish symbol from her advertisments.




 Jim

    The American Center for Law and Justice as well as a attorneys from the
    Christian Law Association [which is nonprofit] are both involved. 
    
    I don't know much of the details other than what has been announced in
    church.  The CLA is based out of Pastor Jack Hyles church in Chicago,
    IL.
    
    Sorry, wish I had more details.  Basically all I know is that
    affadavits either are being developed or have been developed and on
    their way to the courts.

 I'm absolutely amazed that this is happening (though I guess I'm not
 surprised)..

    .340
    
    In interviewing alternate Christian education for my children in the
    Silicon Valley, I happened across a school that no longer offers
    chapel, but instead a "Youth Group" activity based meeting.
    
    Eeeyuck...

 Sheesh...

What is the name of the group that is trying to get this required?

/john

    I see two groups in the Christian camp of Church and State. One wanting
    seperation the other wanting them to merge. My fear is for the latter.
    Letting the government tell us Christians what we can do and what we
    cannot. Do not missread what I'm saying, there are true Christians
    trying for this murge but how can it work? I don't think they see the
    whole picture.
    
    Bruce
      

2   C h r i s t i a n s   a c q u i t t e d   i n   P a k i s t a n

[picture of a member of a religious party howling in protest]

Blasphemy ruling stirs protest

By John-Thor Dahlburg, Los Angeles Times

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- An appeals court yesterday acquitted two Christians,
one a 14-year-old boy, of charges of blasphemy against Islam, a crime that
carries a mandatory death penalty.

Outside the courtroom in the city of Lahore, dozens of Muslims protested
and threw stones when the court's ruling was announced.

The defendants, Salamat Masih, 14, and Rehmat Masih, 40, had been sentenced
to death after being convicted by a lower court on Feb. 9 of scrawling
anti-Islamic slogans on the wall of a mosque in a rural Punjabi village.
The two, said by their attorneys not to be related, were sentenced to be
hanged.

In striking down the sentences, two judges of the Lahore High Court said
there was no evidence to support the convictions.  The slogans that the
two Masihs allegedly wrote were immediately erased from the mosque wall.
During the trial, witnesses for the prosecution refused to repeat the
offensive words on grounds of "sanctity."

Though defense attorneys protested at the lack of proof, the trial judge
had ruled that allegations were so serious that no pious Muslim would
falsely make them.

The convictions alarmed Pakistan's Christian minority, which held prayer
services Wednesday night in support of the accused.  The case also
highlighted the growing problem Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto faces in
dealing with fundamentalists in her overwhelmingly Muslim nation and
threatened to embarrass her during her visit in April to the United
States.

In reversing the convictions, appellate judge Arif Iqbal Bhatti said that
it appeared "some elements were trying to create provocation and mischief
around the case."  The court's verdict was in line with Muslim ideals of
justice, he said.

"This will be a landmark judgment," Bhatti said.  "The decision is based
on law, our consciences and keeping in view the fact that we are answerable
to God and his last prophet."

The two Masihs also were charged with throwing anti-Islamic leaflets into
the mosque, but Bhatti said the pieces of paper on which blasphemous words
had been allegedly written were not the work of the accused.

Joseph Francis, a Christian human rights activist said, "This decision has
restored the confidence of minorities."

A prosecution lawyer, Rashid Murtaza Quereshi, charged Bhutto with putting
pressure on the Lahore judges, and said he would appeal to the Supreme
Court.

The high court ordered the release of the defendants, who are now in prison.
But a lawyer for the defendants said she feared for their lives.

Muslim zealots have threatened to kill the two Masihs, as well as judges and
lawyers in the case.  A third Christian man charged in the case was shot
dead outside the Lahore court last April.  Rehmat Masih and Salamat Masih
were wounded.

Bhutto has said she is taking steps to amend the blasphemy law.

Weekly Summary, WS9510, for the week ending March 10, 1995
Prepared by the Nazarene News Service of the Church of the 
Nazarene
Communications Division, 6401 The Paseo, Kansas City, MO 
64131
Editors: Mark Graham and Bryan Merrill

The following information may be used in newsletters and 
bulletins. 
For more information or to report stories contact the 
Nazarene News Service--voice: (816) 333-7000, ext 2303; 
FAX:(816) 333-1748; Internet: [email protected]; 
Compuserve: 72066,2560.
We welcome your comments and suggestions.



Nazarene Responds to Wild Lecture
     Thirty-three-year-old Nazarene Craig Rogers couldn't 
believe the unprofessional conduct of guest lecturer 
Joanne Marrow in his Psychology 100 class at Sacramento 
State University. On Dec. 6, 1994, Marrow, a tenured 
professor and lesbian activist, chose to lecture on her 
personal preferences regarding masturbation.
     "She told us that one of her objectives was to show 
that men have made women's genitalia ugly, and she wanted 
everyone to know that they are beautiful," said Craig. 
"When she started explaining how she masturbates, I got up 
and left the classroom.  I didn't know what to do. I 
prayed, then I decided to go back in."
     Rogers said things got worse as she started showing 
slides of female genitalia.
     "The stuff that was shown, if it were in a medical 
school, might be appropriate," said Craig. "But it wasn't 
appropriate for our class, and I was appalled at the fact 
that she was showing us photos of the genitalia of young 
girls."
     Rogers said he spoke with his pastor, Les Shelton, at 
Sacramento First Church, and others before he decided to 
do something about it.
"Craig has taken great pains to distance this from being a 
Christian issue," said Shelton. "He felt offended and 
violated by the incident."
     "If it had been a man showing slides of women's 
genitalia, the matter would have been taken care of by the 
administration within 48 hours," said Rogers. But things 
were different since the lecturer was a woman, he said. "I 
couldn't get past the secretary in the department 
chairman's office for more than a week and a half. Only 
now, three months after it happened, are school 
administrators actually dealing with this situation."
     Rogers, who is involved in the Nazarene Course of 
Study and would like to be a pastoral counselor, said he 
took the matter to the California Board of Control, a body 
that hears complaints against the state. Since they chose 
not to hear it, he and his attorney, Kathleen Smith, filed 
a $2.5 million sexual harassment suit against Marrow and 
the university.
     In a Wall Street Journal article that broke the story 
Mar. 7, Marrow's attorney described Rogers' suit as 
"Christian McCarthyism" designed to "put sexuality back in 
the closet." 
     Rogers said he isn't a fundamentalist or a prude. "I 
know that people masturbate, but I don't think a student 
who is paying tuition to take a course in psychology 
should have to listen to someone describe their personal 
preferences regarding it."
     Rogers said he wanted five questions related 
specifically to Marrow's lecture to be deleted from the 
final exam, but administrators wouldn't agree to it. "They 
also didn't allow us to complete an evaluation of the 
class, which is normal procedure for classes at Sacramento 
State," he said.
     Rogers said he asked university officials to do 
several things to resolve the case. "I want Marrow to be 
taken through sensitivity training and to be held to the 
same standards a man would be," he said. "If she is 
guilty, she would receive whatever treatment a man would 
receive. Also, I think there should be a student advocate 
to deal with such cases. Finally, I would like every 
course syllabus to contain a statement about the school's 
policy on sexual harassment, so the students can know what 
it is and take action to stop it when it occurs."
     Rogers said he has been besieged by phone calls from 
the media since the story came out. "I have had about six 
hours sleep in the last two days," he said. He added that 
he has decided to tell his story to the ABC program 
"20/20." 
     "I have received nothing but support," said Craig. 
"Men and women are telling me, 'it's about time; this is 
ridiculous.'
     "Marrow's attorney has been saying that I am the only 
one who has complained, but they [university 
administrators] have had so many complaints about this one 
professor, they don't know what to do with them."
     Rogers has been a member of the Church of the 
Nazarene since 1992 when he came in contact with Ed 
Redfern, pastor of the Oroville, Calif., Church. Rogers is 
a counselor with a program to rehabilitate problem teens. 
He says he wants to attend seminary in the near future.

Weekly Summary, WS9510, for the week ending March 10, 1995
Prepared by the Nazarene News Service of the Church of the 
Nazarene
Communications Division, 6401 The Paseo, Kansas City, MO 
64131
Editors: Mark Graham and Bryan Merrill

The following information may be used in newsletters and 
bulletins. 
For more information or to report stories contact the 
Nazarene News Service--voice: (816) 333-7000, ext 2303; 
FAX:(816) 333-1748; Internet: [email protected]; 
Compuserve: 72066,2560.
We welcome your comments and suggestions.


World Parish Still Expanding
     The republic of Palau has become the 109th world area 
reached by the Church of the Nazarene, according to Louie 
Bustle, World Mission Division director. The Pacific 
island is located on the western edge of Micronesia.
     Limitz Iyar, a graduate of Nazarene Bible College, 
Colorado Spring, Colo., was recently installed as pastor 
of Palau First Church, according to Denny Owens, 
Micronesia coordinator. Iyar will also serve as leader of 
the pioneer work in Palau, where the Church of the 
Nazarene is fully registered with the government.
     Iyar, along with several others in Palau, became 
Nazarenes through the mission work in Guam. They are 
committed to securing land for the new church.
     This is the second time that the number of world 
areas has extended as high as 109. The number was reduced 
by the World Mission Division last year when several 
republics were dissolved in South Africa. Palau is the 
third world area entered in the last six months.
     The first world mission area was the Republic of 
India, reached in 1898 by the Association of Pentecostal 
Churches of America, one of three denominations which 
became the Church of the Nazarene 10 years later.

    AP 16 Mar 95 19:12 EST V0753
 
    Copyright 1995 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
 
    OSLO, Norway (AP) -- A Christian teen who fled Pakistan when his
    exoneration on blasphemy charges outraged Islamic extremist groups says
    he feels safe at last. But Salamat Masih misses his parents. 

    "For the first time in two years, I feel free and happy," Salamat
    Masih, 14, who fled to Germany last month, was quoted as telling the
    Oslo newspaper Verdens Gang. 

    Salamat and his uncle, Rehmat Masih, 40, who fled with him, are in
    hiding. They fear for their lives even though a Pakistani court
    reversed their conviction and death sentence on Feb. 23. 

    They had been sentenced to hang on charges of scrawling anti-Islamic
    graffiti on a mosque wall in 1993, a crime that carries a mandatory
    death penalty in Pakistan. 

    The high court's reversal enraged Muslim extremists, who threw bricks
    at the courthouse and threatened to kill the Masihs. A third Christian
    accused in the blasphemy case, Manzoor Masih, was shot and killed last
    year as he left the courthouse. 

    In its two-page report from "Somewhere in Germany," Norway's largest
    newspaper on Thursday showed pictures of Salamat as he listened to
    music on headphones and did schoolwork. 

    The report said he was living with a German family. His own family
    remains in Pakistan. 

    It is not clear how long Salamat will remain in Germany, which he said
    he knew nothing about when he was released Feb. 25. 

    "I've had a fantastic reception. I feel safe when I walk on the
    streets. I don't see a single weapon. But I miss Mom and Dad and the
    others," he told the newspaper through an interpreter. 

    At 11, Salamat was charged with writing blasphemous graffiti. After two
    years, the Masihs were sentenced to hang. 

    Salamat spent 15 days on death row, including a night on a cold floor
    in leg irons, but he said he knew people supported him. 

    "I got to know that ... people in many countries were praying for me
    and that only a few people in Pakistan supported the death sentence,"
    he said. 

    Salamat claimed he was falsely accused, partly because he fought with
    another boy over some pet pigeons, the newspaper said. He said his
    uncle stepped forward as a witness. 

    "Here in Germany, I just look at pigeons. I don't want them in the
    house anymore," Salamat said. "They just cause problems."

	Florida Church Receives $234,000 Judgement Under RICO 

A judged granted the National Organization of Women an award of $1 plus
attorney fees in their suit against New Covenant Church of Pompano Beach,
Florida.  The attorney's fees amounted to $234,000 and on July 11, 1994,
NOW prepared to seize church property and church assets since the church
was unable to make the near quarter of a million dollar payment.

The Pompano Beach church is a member of the strongly Pro-Life Evangelical
Presbyterian Church denomination.  The denomination requested and received
a stay of the seizure of assets until July 22, 1994 and on that date
presented the trial judge with a letter of intent indicating the
denomination's willingness to extend the church a loan.  On July 26, the
EPC gave the church $212,000 and the church paid the court $234,000.  The
EPC is now asking affiliated churches to help pay off the amount of the
loan.

The settlement against the Pompano Beach church occurred because the pastor
participated in a non-violent protest against an abortion clinic and
"willfully violated" a restraining order issued by the court.  The church
was sued despite the pastor's claim that his protest at the abortion clinic
was the action of a private citizen and was not in his role as pastor.

A second lawsuit against the church is pending.  The attorney who
represented NOW has filed a motion to include the EPC and PCUSA
denominations as additional defendants in this second suit.

The conflict began in March 1989 when a number of anti-abortion groups
protested at a Boca Raton, FL abortion clinic.  In May of that year the NOW
sued the pastor of New Covenant church and five other defendants, claiming
that the protesters conspired to illegally block access to the clinic,
violated patients "right to have an abortion", attempted to financially
bankrupt the clinic, and to physically intimidate and harass employees and
patients.  In a non-jury trial which concluded in January 1993, NOW was
awarded ONE DOLLAR.  However, the judge found that the church violated
Florida's Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) and
that this act entitled NOW to collect attorney fees.

In January 1994, the church, on the advise of a local attorney, appealed
the findings.  In July they requested a stay of seizure of assets and paid
the settlement on July 26.  In September the church withdrew its appeal
under the advise of an attorney from the American Center for Law and
Justice.  The ACLJ attorney believed that the court would uphold NOW's
claim that the appeal was improperly filed and so further action would
merely increase the amount of attorney fees.  The second suit by NOW
against the church continues.

Columnist Cal Thomas, commenting on this case, says 

       "Even those who favor `a woman's right to choose' an abortion 
	should be seriously concerned about a case that allows the state to
	confiscate the property of a church because a few members and the
	pastor - acting as an individual citizen and not representing his
	church - decide to exercise what they regard as their moral
	obligation and their constitutional right to peaceably assemble and to
	petition their government for a redress of grievances."

[The Australian Tuesday, March 14, 1995 - page 31]

[sub-heading] 
Disgruntled former member uses cyberspace to attack church's teachings

[picture to the right of L.Ron Hubbard on the steps in front of a building with 
stone columns - captioned "The late L. Ron Hubbard at his home Saint Hill ... 
copyright"]

[Main Heading]
Scientologists seek muzzle on Internet

By BRIAN RIGGS in Silicon Valley

AN unusual lawsuit involving an electronic bulletin board, a disgruntled 
minister and secret religious teachings promises to test the free-wheeling 
exchange of information on the Internet.

The Church of Scientology, based in Loas Angeles, has filed suit against a 
ministerial malcontent and the on-line services that allowed him to post 
confidential and copyrighted material without its permission.

Former Scientology minister Mr Dennis Erlich, who left the church in 1982, has 
been using a Los Angeles electronic bulletin board service (BBS) to post 
invective commentary on the church and its teachings.

As part of his criticism, Mr Erlich has repeatedly drawn from the speeches and 
writings of the church's founder, L. Ron Hubbard. These are copyright material 
and cannot be reproduced without permission.

Additionally, some of the posted material has included confidential information 
"from church members who have achieved a certain level of spiritual awareness", 
according to church spokeswoman Ms Karin Pouw.

These writings are not intended for public dissemination and are considered 
"trade secrets".

The Church of Scientology, founded by Hubbard in 1954, has been promulgated 
through his much-publicised book, Dianetics.

In a preliminary hearing late last month, the BBS and the provider that gives 
it Internet access - San Jose, California-based Netcom On-Line Communications 
Services Inc - were determined not to be responsible for carrying what US 
courts may deem to be illegal information.

The same hearing issued a temporary restraining order against Mr Erlich, 
prohibiting him from posting material until the matter is brought to trial.

Despite the court's decision not to prosecute the Internet providers, the 
church intends to file against them.

"A means of control should exist whereby access operators and their 
organisations are held responsible for what is posted on the Internet," the 
church's attorney, Ms Helena Korbin, said.

But this is not the commonly accepted wisdom, according to Ms Kathleen Wells, 
director of the US-based, non-profit organisations Computer Professionals for 
Social Responsibility.

The judge's dismissal of Netcom and the BBS provider doesn't surprise Ms Kells, 
who draws analogies with more established means of sending information from one 
place to another.

It is illegal to use the postal service to defraud people, she explains, just 
as it is illegal to use telephone lines to slander people.

But when fraud and slander occur, neither post office nor the telephone company 
can be held responsible.
...

[the article then discusses copright in general,and the fact that 'technology
has outpaced the legal system'] 

Edittech International

[posted without permission]

[The Australian - page 13 - Tuesday March 28, 1995]

Shroud of Turin tests may be wrong

By DENIS SEARLES IN Colorado Springs

THE Shroud of Turin, purportedly Christ's burial dress, has inspired the
faithful for centuries. But seven years ago, radiocarbon dating put is at just
700 years old.

It seemed that faith must yield to science. Perhaps it was a forgery. That was
in 1988.

But a Russian biochemist now claims the radiocarbon findings are wrong and the
shroud is at least 1800 years old and possibly older. And there may be other
evidence.

The yellowed cloth bears the image of a man with thorn marks on his head,
lacerations on his back, puncture wounds on his hands and feet and a deep wound
on the right side.

Believed to have been seized by Crusaders in 1203-1204 in Constantinople, the
shroud first appeared publicly in Liley, France, in 1357. It was moved from
Chambrey, France, to Turin, Italy in 1578 after being scorched by fire. In this
century, science cast the first doubt on its authenticity.

The director and founder of the Turin Shroud Centre of Colorado, physicist Mr
John Jackson, is helping co-ordinate Dr Dimitri Koutsentsov's studies at Sedov
Bio-polymer Laboratories in Moscow, aided by a grant from the Fourth World
Foundation.

Mr Jackson opened the non-profit Turin Shroud Centre in 1992 to establish a
research base for tackling the shroud's mysteries. Contributions finance his
laboratory, equipped with up-to-date scientific measurement technology and
computers.

"We would like to be able to answer the questions of how the image got there and
authenticate who the man in the shroud was," he says. "Now we may have the
capability to examine that rationally, not on a basis of faith, but in
scientific pursuit."

He believes Dr Koutsentsov's theory that the radiocarbon dating done in 1988 was
skewed. The tests failed to take into account the effect the fire had on the
shroud more than 500 years ago, Mr Jackson says.

"Koutsentsov has shown that fire conditions take carbon from the air and
chemically bond it to the fibre," he says. "That carbon is younger than the
cloth and if you don't take that into account, you get a date much too young."

Moreover, he says, there is too much other evidence to the contrary, including
archaeological evidence and samples taken in 1978 when Mr Jackson and 29 other
scientists examined the shroud in Turin.

Mr Jackson says the imprint itself appears to date from two millennia ago.

"It makes the man of the shroud appear to be a crucifixion victim in Roman
times, what with the wounds and the scourge marks on his back," Mr Jackson says.

The centre's associate director and Mr Jackson's wife, Ms Rebecca Jackson, grew
up an Orthodox Jew and has studied Jewish ethnology for more than 30 years.

She says the shroud is made of linen with traces of cotton but no wool in
compliance with Jewish law of Christ's era. In Jewish measure it comes to
exactly two cubits by eight cubits, a neat dimension, rather than the modern
5m by 1m in modern measure. [approx 16' by 3' - hazza :*]

As to theories that the image was painted in medieval times, Mrs Jackson says:
"The forger would have had to been an expert on Jewish cultural subtleties...
Unlikely for a European gentile."

The image of the man in the shroud also shows woolly hair texture; a long,
rectangular-shape head; a full lower lip; high cheek bones; and a bump on the
left side of his nose; all "very Semitic", she says.

Displayed in the centre is a full-scale transparent colour photograph of the
shroud taken during the 1978 science expedition. From that, Mr Jackson has made
several copies of the shroud.

With a computer, he solved the folding technique evident from the complex fold
marks on the original shroud. With a duplicate shroud, he built a full-scale
model in which the image on the shroud can be raised to full torso length for
viewing.

Mr Jackson says the original shroud contained pollen from the Middle East.

"Where did all these Middle East pollens get on the shroud if it was a forgery
from Europe," he asks.

"You have a lot of things coming together... what with the crowns of thorns, the
wound in the side...

"Put that all together and to my mind, if this cloth really dates to the first
century, and comes out of the Middle East, it would have been the shroud of
Jesus."

AP	(copied without permission)

[The Australian - page 11 - Tuesday April 4, 1995]

Tractor ends Amish ideal

LOS ANGELES: A remote Amish community in southern Oklahoma is breaking up over a
decision by one of its members to buy a tractor.

The Amish, a Mennonite Christian sect with devout and traditional ways, have
been migrating westward across the United States since their forebears arrived
in Pennsylvania from Germany in 1720.

Twenty-six families bought land in Clarita, Oklahoma, in the late 1970s and
farmed it without electricity or internal combustion engines.

Now, driven by Herman Stutzman's tractor and the stubborn Oklahoma soil, at
least 10 of them are leaving.

Mr Herman Stutzman runs a 282-acre farm with 48 dairy cows, some mixed crops and
30 sows. His plan to buy a tractor cut to the heart of the perennial Amish
dilemma of adapting to modern life.

"It's like the domino theory," said a spokesperson from the People's Place, an
Amish and Mennonite educational centre in Intercourse(sic), Pennsylvania, Mr
Steve Scott. "They feel that tractors are the first step towards cars, which
throw you into the fast pace of modern life and all that entails."

Mr Stutzman's proposal failed to win unanimous backing at a meeting of church
elders, but he bought the tractor anyway. Rather than risk confrontation, his
neighbours are returning back to the east.

[The Times - copied without permission]

The American Center for Law and Justice has filed suit against the IRS in
a case involving a New York church which lost its tax exempt status for
advertising against President Clinton.

/john

	That's Randall Terry's church, right?  Pastor Little, I believe?

    AP 18 Apr 95 20:22 EDT V0523
 
    Copyright 1995 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
 
    JACKSON, Miss. (AP) -- A public school must stop holding morning
    devotionals because the practice is unconstitutional and "segregates
    students along religious lines," a federal judge ruled Tuesday. 

    U.S. District Judge Neal Biggers Jr. sided with Lisa Herdahl, a mother
    of six who sued last December, claiming that five of her children were
    ridiculed at school for not taking part in the prayers. 

    Biggers issued a preliminary injunction stopping the prayers. He set a
    March 4 trial date on Herdahl's lawsuit. 

    The injunction bars broadcast of devotions or scriptures over the
    school intercom system, and student-led devotionals during school
    hours. He said students may gather in the gym before class for daily
    devotional services. 

    Biggers said the school's practice of allowing a student Bible group to
    broadcast devotionals over a public address system "places the
    district's seal of approval on this practice." 

    Its custom of excusing pupils who do not wish to participate "does not
    cure the constitutional defect," Biggers wrote. 

    "Organized prayer in public schools does not unite students from
    various backgrounds and beliefs but, instead, segregates students along
    religious lines," Biggers wrote. 

    County schools Superintendent Jerry Horton was out of town Tuesday and
    not available for comment. He said earlier that the prayers were "for
    the good of the student body" and handled only by students. 

    Herdahl said in December that she had complained for months that the
    prayers were unconstitutional. The 1,300-school, North Pontotoc
    Attendance Center, educates children from kindergarten through high
    school. 

    She said Tuesday that the decision "states what I've stated all along,
    that prayer in the intercom and the classroom is not legal and not
    right." 

    "They can go to the church if they want to. They can pray in their
    homes. They don't need to bring into the school," she said. 

    I see the 2 people that were accused of praying too loudly were
    recently arrested as well.  

    	re .363
    
    	And from all accounts I've heard their arrests were quite
    	justified.  The pastors at the respective churches they were
    	disrupting called the authorities.  The women have been
    	banned from two churches by the courts at the request of the
    	pastors of those churches.
    
    	I'm not sure where your feelings lie regarding these two women,
    	but my opinion is that the legal action against them is not
    	an issue of unwarranted government intervention in religious
    	matters.  The responsibility for that issue lies squarely on
    	the women's shoulders.
    
    	And a news blurb in the paper today said that they have now agreed
    	not to be disruptive because their mission from God is now
    	complete.

	Joe hit the nail on the head!

Hearst Newspapers

WASHINGTON -- Counter-terrorism experts suspect Islamic fundamentalists
were behind the devastating car bombing of the Oklahoma City federal
building on Wednesday.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation issued an all-points bulletin for three
suspects seen fleeing the area in a rented brown pickup truck, including
two described as appearing to be of Middle Eastern origin.

The specialists, including the former head of counter-terrorism at the
Federal Bureau of Investigation, said the bombing resembled four previous
Muslim fundamentalist attacks against American citizens that were designed
to maximize the number of casualties:

-- The World Trade Center bombing in the heart of New York City's financial
district in 1993 that killed six and wounded more than 1,000;

-- The mid-air destruction of Pan Am 103 over Scotland in 1988 that killed
259 passengers and 11 people on the ground;

-- The truck-bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut in April, 1983 that
killed 46 including 16 Americans and injured more than 100.

-- The truck-bombing of the Marine Corps barracks in Beirut in October,
1983 that killed 241 Marines.

ABC News reported that the FBI had asked the Pentagon to assign 10
Arabic-speaking investigators to help pursue leads in the case.

President Clinton declared that the United States "will not tolerate, and I
will not allow, the people of this country to be intimidated by evil
cowards."

Clinton vowed "the strongest response" to the attack, adding: The killers
will be "treated like killers" with justice that is "swift, certain and
severe."

Attorney General Janet Reno said the U.S. government would seek the death
penalty against the unnamed plotters.

John Magaw, the former U.S. Secret Service official now heading the federal
Bureau Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, said the Oklahoma City device weighed
up to 1,200 pounds -- about the size of the truck-bomb planted by Muslim
fanatics beneath the World Trade Center in the heart of Manhattan's
financial district in 1993.

"I think any time you have this kind of damage, this kind of explosion, you
have to look (at terrorism) first," Magaw said.

Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, who headed the ATF in the Reagan
administration, declared: "Obviously, no amateur did this," adding: "Right
now there are no suspects -- everybody is a suspect."

Robert Heibel, the former FBI deputy director of counter-terrorism who now
directs the research intelligence program at Mercyhurst College in Erie,
Pa., said he suspected Islamic terrorists.

"My feeling is if it looks like a duck, talks like a duck and walks like a
duck, it's probably a duck," Heibel said. "Car bombings are the tool of
Islamic fundamentalists."

Dr. Jerrold M. Post, a terrorism expert at George Washington University who
formerly produced psychological profiles of foreign leaders for the Central
Intelligence Agency, agreed that the bombing reflected the tactics and
technology of Muslim extremists.

"Terrorism is designed to have an audience," Post said. "In most major
terrorist incidents, responsibility is eventually claimed as a way of
demonstrating the power and credibility of the cause."

Skip Brandon, a retired FBI counter-terrorism specialist, said federal
investigators will comb the bombing site for evidence of possible suspects
as they successfully did following the World Trade Center bombing.

"The crime scene will talk to you if you let it," Brandon said. "But it has
to be preserved."

The attack came amid the largest criminal trial of alleged foreign-based
terrorists in American history. Federal authorities are prosecuting a band
of Muslim extremists in New York City for allegedly carrying out the
truck-bombing of the twin-towers of the World Trade Center complex on Feb.
26, 1993 that killed six and injured more than 1,000.

Twelve followers of Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, an exiled blind Egyptian
cleric, are still on trial. Four others have already been convicted and
sentenced to 240 years each in prison.

Bill Licatovich, a spokesman for the U.S. Marshal's Service in Washington,
said security has been heightened at the New York courthouse in recent
weeks.

"They took extra precautions for that," he said, referring to the trial.

Heibel, the former FBI official, said he has "been waiting for the other
shoe to drop," adding: "We've got their Imam, we've got their people in
prison. We always suspected they would hit any where any time. Now the game
gets serious."

Both Post and Heibel ruled out the possibility that embittered followers of
the Branch Davidian movement carried out the attack in retaliation for the
April 19, 1994, raid on their compound outside Waco, Texas, in which dozens
were killed.

The Branch Davidian sect "doesn't have a violent method of operation," Post
said. "They are a religious cult that believes in the coming of the
millennium. Violence occurred because of their standoff with society."

Peter Smerick, a former FBI agent who wrote psychological profiles of David
Koresh during the 51-day standoff in Waco, said he would be "very, very
surprised" if supporters of the Branch Davidians were involved in the
Oklahoma City explosion.

"I did not come across with the feeling that we were dealing with people
who were violence prone," Smerick said. "While they may have considered the
fact that some day the government was going to attack them, they were not
going out and attacking anybody else."

Heibel said that ultra right-wing neo-Nazi organizations have carried out
terrorist attacks in the Southwest over the past decade but none of the
organizations demonstrated the capability to carry out a car bombing.

"These groups have basically carried out armed robberies, murders, little
bombings against the Internal Revenue Service but nothing like this,"
Heibel said.

White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry said the Central Intelligence
Agency, the eavesdropping National Security Agency and the FBI's
counter-terrorism branch were "carefully scrubbing every available piece of
information, digging as deeply as we can, to see if there's anything that
might provide a helpful lead."

Brandon, the retired FBI expert, said investigators will review material
gathered by intelligence agencies to check for suspicious movements of
equipment and personnel in recent weeks. Potentially incriminating
communications picked up by the NSA also will be reviewed to spot anything
pertaining to the Oklahoma City attack.

"You go back and look at everything that's available and ask other
intelligence services to do the same," Brandon said. "You look at both
foreign or domestic."

Experts said the technology to produce such a devastating explosive device
is easily available. For example, a book available in may bookstores has
instructions for manufacturing explosive devices from household products,
fertilizer and other materials on sale at hardware stores or supermarkets.

Diagrams are included showing how to wire a variety of detonators including
chemical, electric and non-electric detonators.

Reuters

NEW YORK - For the second time in two years, assailants using a rented
truck to transport a massive bomb have killed innocent people, injured
thousands and thrown an American city into panic.

And they have for the second time shown just how vulnerable the United
States, with its traditions of an open society and freedom even to buy a
gun, can be for anyone committed to an act of violence.

The destruction of the Albert Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City
sends the same chilling message that the bombers of New York City's World
Trade Centre did in 1993 -- no one is safe anywhere.

"A terrorist gains by creating a climate of fear -- they want us to think
that they can get us anytime, anywhere," said Steven Emerson, a leading
expert on Islamic extremists. And they can, he said.

That bloody message explodes in a city where no one expects such a thing to
happen.

One might anticipate an act of terrorism in New York, America's media
capital, especially after the Trade Centre blast and a plot to blow up the
United Nations and the city's bridges and tunnels and its federal office
building.

But Oklahoma City, a friendly, easy-going city of half-a-million in the
heart of Middle America, is supposed to be more synonymous with the musical
"Oklahoma" than with terror, and terrorism experts say that could be the
reason for the explosion that destroyed the Murrah building, leaving it one
vast hole nine floors long.

"Whoever did it, picked an easy target, certainly easier than the World
Trade Centre is today. Terrorists always pick targets where they are going
to succeed," said Ira Lipman, presidents Guardsmark Inc., one of the
country's largest security firms.

Americans, almost inured to acts ot violence, seemed stunned by the
explosion. President Clinton marched out of a news briefing, refusing to
take question as if he could not control his anger.

No group has as yet come forward and the FBI refuses to confirm reports
that it is hunting two Middle Eastern men. Islamic militants were convicted
of the Trade Centre bombing and are on trial now for the bombing spree
plot.

Attorney General Janet Reno said it was too early to speculate and many
terrorism experts agreed with her.

"It could be a contractor who has access to explosives, a farmer who has
access to fertiliser, it could be a wacko, it could be a professional
trying to cover his tracks by using a simple device," expert Jack Kingston
told CNN.

"There are also about 10,000 pounds of explosives that are stolen and
recovered every year and 10,000 detonators so these devices are available.
You don't have to be a rocket scientist to create this kind of bomb. You do
have to be very, very careful and very, very determined."

Emerson, in an interview with Reuters, agreed to a point. "There is no
smoking gun. But the modus operandi and circumstantial evidence leads in
the direction of Islamic terrorism."

He said Oklahoma City has been for the past decade a centre for radical
Islamic activity in the United States, a place where radicals established
homes and networks. It has also been the site of various Islamic
conventions including one in 1992 where 6,000 people cheered calls for
killing Jews and infidels, Emerson said.

But Wednesday was also the second anniversary of the storming of Branch
Davidian headquarters in nearby Waco, Texas, and some experts wondered if
the blast was connected to the cult that died in flames.

"As in the World Trade Centre case, an informant and a slip-up are needed
to solve this," Emerson said.

The big break in that case came when officials discovered the man who had
rented the truck that carried the 1,200-pound bomb to the garage of New
York's tallest building.

They did that because the man signed his own name to the rental form and
gave his right address. Then the FBI came up with an informant.

Now many experts are wondering if the Oklahoma blast was connected to the
capture two months ago of the alleged mastermind of the Trade Centre
bombing, Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, in Pakistan after a $2 million reward had been
promised.

His capture led to vows of revenge. Was Oklahoma, where "the grass grows as
high as an elephant's eye," the place for that retribution?

TIME magazine:

EXCLUSIVE: AN ISLAMIC CONNECTION? The bombing has some of the hallmarks of
Islamic terrorists, intelligence experts tell TIME correspondent Edward
Barnes. They discounted American radical groups for several reasons. Among
them: few, if any, U.S. groups have the skills used in this bombing, and
the car bomb is a signature weapon of several Islamic groups, but no known
American ones. In addition, perhaps coincidentally, there was a major
national conference of a large Muslim group in Oklahoma City last weekend.
The group, the Islamic Society of North America, is normally considered
moderate, but Barnes says it has promoted a number of radicals to
leadership roles in recent months. Experts interviewed by TIME today also
said that Oklahoma City was not necessarily a surprising spot for a
terrorist attack, since it has a huge Middle Eastern population drawn by
the area's oil fields.

Episcopal Church responds with aid following Oklahoma City bombing

     (ENS-April 21) From the first moments after an April 19 bomb blast
destroyed a federal office building in Oklahoma City, Episcopalians joined
the swelling ranks of volunteers who rushed to help.

     "Dozens of volunteers have flooded into the cathedral grounds, a half
dozen of them newly confirmed Holy Saturday night," wrote the Rev. George
Back, dean of the nearby St. Paul's Cathedral, as he recorded his
impressions of the first few hours following the explosion. The cathedral
was also severely damaged by the blast.

     Literally thousands of volunteers, many Episcopalians among them,
flocked to the blast site, to the nearby hospital and to relief centers to
offer aid, reported the Rev. Charles Woltz, diocesan canon to the ordinary.
"In this part of the country, people care for each other," he said. "The
expression of grace is just wonderful to see."

     The blast severely damaged both the Roman Catholic and Episcopal
cathedrals, as well as the Episcopal diocesan offices, reported Bishop
Robert M. Moody of the Diocese of Oklahoma. While no diocesan staff members
at the offices were injured, "several Episcopalians are known to be in the
rubble," he wrote.

     The numbers of Episcopalians killed or injured in the explosion is not
yet known, but the diocesan office is compiling lists of names, reported
Woltz.

     "Yesterday was a day of horror for this city," wrote Moody. "The
force of the bomb is impossible to describe. The damage that extends out
from the city is remarkable." He walked with Woltz to the bomb site within
the first 20 minutes of the explosion and reported that "the number of
people who had been injured was overwhelming and the damage was
indescribable."

Diocesan buildings damaged

     At the cathedral, "five of the six dormers have fallen, the bricks and
stones crushing the bushes and benches beneath them," wrote Back. "The St.
Francis window lies crumbled and twisted amidst the pews. Its companion
dangles among the organ trumpet pipes." In addition, he wrote, the
cathedral roof has shifted and "the heavy oak doors are 10 feet into the
cloister."

     At the diocesan offices, about a block further from the blast, windows
were broken, roof tiles dislodged, and at least one heavy metal door frame
twisted. "It was like the whole building was picked up, shaken and put back
down again," said Woltz.

     Despite the damage it sustained, the cathedral was called into service
the day of the blast as a support center for volunteers, with the magnitude
of the catastrophe prompting what seemed like super-human efforts, noted
Back.  "The city wants to feed 200 firefighters supper in Dean Willey
Hall," he wrote. "It is three o'clock. The hall is in shambles, the floor
is covered with shattered glass and ceiling tiles. By six o'clock the floor
is clean and 20 tables are set."

     The Rev. B. Wayne Kinyon, an Episcopal chaplain at St. Anthony's
Hospital where many of the injured were taken, was coordinating the
ecumenical efforts of the scores of clergy who came to the hospital to
help, reported Woltz. "I've never seen such an outpouring of offers to help
from volunteers," Woltz said. While he was at the hospital, he reported,
one woman approached him and said, "I'm a pastor's wife. How can I help?"

     Bishop Moody participated in an ecumenical prayer service the day
after the explosion, and churches throughout the city were planning special
services or vigils, Woltz said. The cathedral plans to hold its regular
services Sunday.

Relief funds established

     The President Bishop's Fund for World Relief sent an immediate
emergency grant of $25,000 to the Diocese of Oklahoma, reported Nancy
Marvel, the fund's interim director. In addition, the Episcopal Church is
represented through the ecumenical efforts of the Church World Service
(CWS). The Rev.  Peter Van Hook of the Diocese of Utah, an Episcopal
volunteer disaster resource consultant with the CWS, has joined efforts in
Oklahoma City to set up an immediate interfaith support program for
families of victims, she said.

     Donations for the bomb relief effort may be sent to:

     The Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief
     815 Second Avenue
     New York, NY 10017
     (checks should be made out to the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World
      Relief, and marked for bomb blast relief)

In addition, donations may be sent to:

     Victim Relief Fund
     924 North Robinson
     Oklahoma City, OK 73102
     (checks should be made out to The Diocese of Oklahoma, and marked
      "Bomb Blast")

     Cathedral Restoration Fund
     127 N.W. 7th Street
     Oklahoma City, OK 73102
     (checks should be made out to St. Paul's Cathedral)

IBM, European ally aim to make safe Internet commerce

 Europe's No. 1 credit-card company and IBM announced an alliance Wednesday 
to try to make the Internet safe for electronic commerce.

 Europay International SA, owned by European banks, said the system will allow 
users of the World Wide Web portion of the Internet to shop with a credit card 
that has a computer chip inside it.

 While marketing of goods has become common on the global computer network, 
there are few transactions because of the difficulty of making sure data is 
secure.

 Europay and International Business Machines Corp. said they would run a test 
pilot next year on cards that can store monetary value. The cards will be "read"
by devices attached or built into personal computers, televisions, telephones, 
or other electronic items.

 Beginning in 1997, cards issued by Europay member banks will be able to use
the system, officials said.

Orange County Register, Thursday June 15, 1995

AUSTRALIA: SYDNEY'S ARCHBISHOP SPEAKS OUT ON EUTHANASIA

(ENI) The Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, the Most Revd Harry Goodhew, has
condemned a new bill passed by Australia's Northern Territory which
legalises voluntary euthanasia for terminally ill people.

The Northern Territory Parliament approved the legislation, "Rights of the
Terminally Ill Bill", on 25 May, despite criticism that the new law could
turn the Northern Territory into a "death centre" or "Mecca for
patient-killing", attracting people from other parts of Australia and from
other countries.

Parliaments in several Australian states now expect to be presented with
similar bills attempting to legalise voluntary euthanasia in their regions.

In a letter addressed to the churches of the diocese, the Archbishop said:
"Euthanasia, whether voluntary or otherwise, goes against every tenet of
biblical teaching about life and death, and the almighty, providential hand
of the God who loves us, and deals with us with his immense and gracious
compassion."

The Anglican leader points out that though the Northern Territory
Parliament has tried to write "sufficient safeguards" into the legislation,
it "does give doctors the right to kill, or, to state it more softly, to
assist in a death".

He warns that "legalising euthanasia could cause mistrust between patient
and doctor and give the medical profession unwarranted power over life and
death ... evidence from Holland suggests that there are many elderly people
who fear possible pressure to decide upon voluntary euthanasia, either for
reasons of lifting burdens from their family, or of economic pragmatism."

Archbishop Goodhew said that an "almost superhuman discernment" would be
required of doctors who, according to the Northern Territory law on
euthanasia, must be satisfied "on reasonable grounds" that the patient
understands the consequence of his or her action, is of sound mind, and has
made the decision "freely, voluntarily and after due consideration".

Voluntary euthanasia, the Archbishop says, "must never be the preferred
alternative to the provision of a high standard of palliative care in the
community".

The General Secretary of the National Council of Churches in Australia,
David Gill, has urged Churches across the country to prepare to make a
major contribution to the intensifying national debate about the issue.

The Churches "need to seek a common mind on the ethical issues," David Gill
said. "All our Churches affirm the sacredness of human life. Analysis of
what that should mean, amid the tragedies of human existence, is what we
need to talk more about."

USDA inspection plan isn't kosher to Orthodox Jews

Excerpts from the Boston Globe, 1 Aug 95

Rabbis say the U.S. Department of Agriculture's sweeping new plan to make
meat and poultry safer could effectively outlaw the production of kosher
meat.  They warn that if the USDA enacts the regulations as proposed,
observant American Jews may have to become vegetarians.

The problem is that serveral strict regulations proposed by the Clinton
administration, which do not require Congressional approval to be enacted,
especially a requirement to treat all meat with antibacterial solutions,
conflict with equally strict regulations set forth in the Old Testament
book of Leviticus.  Many Jews insist that kosher rituals, particularly
the mandatory salting of meat, already protect it from the dangerous
pathogens that prompted the new regulations.

The proposed rules have sparked stormy debate in Washington, with
Republicans blasting them as absurdly overreaching and Democrats calling
them desperately needed to save lives.

The Department of Agriculture says it will consider religious concerns,
but will give priority to health issues.

Rabbis explain that the treatment with anti-bacterial solutions would be
a form of pickling, forbidden u nder kosher laws.  The chilling could make
it impossible to soak and salt the meat as required by the laws, and the
time involved could cause logistical delays for kosher markets which must
obey a delicate 72-hour deadline.

For those interested in Charles Stanley, the following article appears in the
8/14/95 Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

CONGREGATION LETS STANLEY KEEP PULPIT: Facing Divorce, he gives up other
role.

"The Rev. Charles Stanley will relinquish his administrative duties at First
Baptist Church of Atlanta as he tries to save his marriage, but he can continue
as pastor, the congregation of the 13000-member church decided Sunday night.

Stanley's  offer to surrender control of the church, which he has guided since
1972, follows months of speculation about the future of his marriage and his
ministry.  He and his wife, Anna, separated in the spring of 1992.  Anna Stanley
filed for divorce in 1993 but agreed to attempt a reconciliation.  She refiled
divorce papers in March, requesting a jury trial.

The separation has spurred disagreement in the congregation, the largest
Baptis church in the state, with some members calling for Stanley to step down
from the pulpit but others urging him to remain.

With thousands of members packing the sanctuary and overflowing into other
areas, the congregation Sunday voted to establish a committee to recommend a
church policy on dealing with deacons and pastors who are separated or divorced.
Stanley said during the meeting that the church has no written policy.

"I think there was accepted policy that the church would not have a pastor who
was divorced," Stanley said.

He said that if he and his wife do divorce, he will resign as minister.

He will step down as administrator effective Sept. 1, he said.  He will then
take at least a month's sabbatical "to seek the Lord's divine guidance and
direction for my life."

Stanley, 62, served as president of the Southern Baptist Convention in 1984
and 1985.

Founded in 1838, First Baptist has two locations, the historic sanctuary in
Midtown on Peachtree Street and a campus in Dunwoody, where Avon cosmetics
once did business.  Stanley's son, the Rev. Andy Stanley, was pastor of the
Dunwoody congregation until last week, when he announced his resignation.

IN a letter to the congregation read Sunday, the younger Stanley expressed love
for his father but said, "I felt my father should step down as leader of
First Baptist of Atlanta."

On sunday, the congregation also authorized a feasibility study to make the
Dunwoody congregation a separate church.

Members of the congregation were reluctant to talk after Sunday night's meeting.

It went "as well as it could under the circumstances," said Joy Lanford, a 15-
year member.  "I hope there will be healing throughout and we'll get on with
the work of worship and service."

END OF ARTICLE

FYI, Within the past five years the original location of First Baptist was
sold for a large sum of money.  However, the purchasers went into default and
the property reverted back to First Baptist.  In anticipation of selling the
property, the ex-AVON facility was purchased in Dunwoody, a suburb of Atlanta,
to be used as the new church facility.  Since the sell didn't go through they
have continued services at both facilities, with Andy Stanley pastoring the
Dunwoody branch.  However, the Dunwoody branch has grown a great deal apparently
and is probably viable as an independent congregation.  Of course, these
present changes in leadership will affect everything I'm sure.

    
    Jeff or anybody,
    
    I hadn't heard this before to my best recollection.  Do you know 
    what led to the separation and pending divorce?  
    
    Thanks,
    Jill

    
    
    Hi Jill,
    
    I know nothing more than what the papers have reported which have never
    had information about the nature of the problems.  As I stated
    somewhere else here one time, it seems like a miracle to me that such
    discretion could prevail.  
    
    jeff

 Sad situation.  I have come to have a great deal of respect for Andy Stanley,
 and that increases with his decision to resign.





 Jim

* 34 hurt as Queens churchgoers and police clash 

NEW YORK -- A melee between roughly 100 police officers and hundreds of
parishioners broke out Sunday night at a Pentecostal church in Queens,
N.Y., injuring 34 people and prompting the mayor and police commissioner to
order an investigation into how the police handled the clash.

By the time the standoff ended about 4:30 a.m., 7 people were arrested on
charges including rioting and obstructing justice, and 28 churchgoers and 6
police officers had been hurt, some by pepper spray and others after being
struck by objects or, possibly, police batons.

Police officials and parishioners gave strikingly different accounts of the
clash Monday.

Parishioners said police officers in riot gear descended on the
congregration, indiscriminately using pepper spray and beating churchgoers,
including women and children.

The police said that churchgoers started the disturbance by using pepper
spray themselves, and threw bottles and debris at officers who were trying
to arrest a church member.

Commissioner William Bratton appealed to the press and others to call a
special police telephone number with information on the disturbance.

"As police commissioner, I am very concerned anytime there is an incident
occurring involving members of the Police Department and churchgoers,"
Bratton said. "If there are two groups that should not at any time find
themselves in conflict, it should be these two groups."

The police and parishioners agree on little more than the broad outlines of
the incident.

They agree that the clash broke out several hours after a retired police
officer tried to get into a revival meeting, apparently to see his
children, who were at the church with his estranged wife. They agree that
the retired officer was tackled by parishioners trying to keep him from
entering. They agree that the disturbance started when the police returned
three or four hours later to arrest the people who assaulted the retired
officer.

A neighbor, Audry Brown, 31, said the clash started when a man the police
were trying to arrest "was trying to fight them."

"He knocked the female officer down," she said, "and the male officer
fell."

"Everyone rushed out of church with bottles," Ms. Brown said. "They
surrounded the officers and the guy they were trying to arrest. The officer
was afraid. He called for backup."

She said the parishioners ran back into the church and closed the gates.
Then the "cops came in riot gear with shields."

Another neighbor, Gruet Burton, 14, said he saw "kids jumping on cars,
screaming and running, saying cops and church people were fighting."

"I saw church people throwing bottles at police," he said. "A couple of
cops threw bottles back. They were macing kids."

Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said Monday that he and the police commissioner
"have concerns on both sides" of the riot.

"We have concerns with the police procedures that were utilized," the mayor
said. "And of course we have concerns with some of the activities that
allegedly have been reported, concerning throwing bricks, throwing metal
objects, throwing other things at police officers."

Both the police and churchgoers said that the retired officer, Clifford
Warsop, 44, went to the United Calvary Church about 7:50 p.m. Sunday as the
congregation was holding a revival meeting under a large tent.

Deputy Commissioner Tom Kelly said that after Warsop was denied entry, he
became upset, and several parishioners tackled him, forcing him to the
ground. During the tussle, Kelly said, church members noticed his gun and
removed it.

Parishioners, however, said they did not recognize Warsop and believed he
was trying to rob the members.

Later, the pastor of the church, the Rev. Emmanuel Osei-Acheampong, offered
a slightly different account, saying church ushers had not wanted to let
Warsop near the woman he had formerly lived with, whom police identified as
Angela Pennicooke. Osei-Acheampong said Monday that Ms. Pennicooke had
obtained a protection order in July, barring Warsop from contact with her.

The police came to the church shortly after they were called and, after
some prodding, Kelly said, the church members gave the officers Warsop's
gun. Warsop, whose head was bleeding, neighbors said, was taken to Mary
Immaculate Hospital, where he received 23 stitches, most of them around his
right eye, the police said.

Warsop, who retired four yeaars ago after nine years on the force, told the
police that he wanted the people who beat him to be arrested, Kelly said.
After 11 p.m., as the revival meeting was breaking up, three officers took
Warsop back to the church.

"They saw one man who he said was one of those that had been involved in
the altercation," Kelly said. "The man was getting in his vehicle, outside
church grounds."

As the officers tried to arrest the man, "he began hollering," Kelly said.
"A number of parishioners came racing out from the fenced area and tried to
interfere with the arrest. They tried to grab him away from the officers."

Kelly said the officers called for backup and about 100 police officers,
some with riot helmets and shields, showed up at the church. A police
helicopter was sent to circle overhead, the commissioner said.

"Bottles and debris started coming down as the additional police arrived,"
Kelly said. "Several officers were pepper-sprayed by the church security
guards, and we also used some pepper spray."

Osei-Acheampong and several parishioners said that when the police came
back with Warsop, they stormed the churchyard using pepper spray and
batons.

"The police ambushed the church," Osei-Acheampong said. "Service is over,
my people are going home. The police charge on them from their hiding spot,
spraying Mace on children, men and women, and pointing guns to the heads of
babies and the men. They beat up men, women, teen-agers and the children
who were trying to run."

Danielle Fullerton, 13, said she had left the churchyard and was trying to
get back inside the fence when an officer "turned me around and sprayed
Mace on me." Danielle said she had been treated for a broken arm at Jamaica
Hospital.

"He took his club and he smashed my face, and then he smashed my arm,"
Danielle said.

Kelly said that police investigators had been trying to interview those who
were hospitalized, but that they all refused to talk. He said that
investigators had also asked Osei-Acheampong if they could view a church
videotape that the pastor said showed parts of the melee, but that the
pastor had not produced the tape.

Seven people, including one 15-year-old, have been arrested in the case,
charged with several counts, including riot, resisting arrest and
obstructing justice.

New translation of bible "politically correct"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

(c) 1995 Copyright The News and Observer Publishing Co.
(c) 1995 Reuter Information Service

NEW YORK (Aug 30, 1995 - 15:24 EDT) - The New Testament gets a major
facelift next month with a new English translation eliminating references to
God the Father, turning the Son of Man into "the human one" and removing
accusations that Jews killed Christ.

The new translation, to be published next month, says children should not
"obey" their parents but heed them. Wives are no longer "subject" to their
husbands but committed to them. "Darkness" is no longer equated with evil
because of racist overtones and the "Lord's Prayer" now begins "Our
Father-Mother in heaven."

References to the right hand of God are also deleted, eliminating possible
embarrassment to left-handed people. It now becomes God's mighty hand.

The editors of "The New Testament and Psalms: An Inclusive Version" deny
they have spent the last five years producing a "politically correct" bible
but admit that a legion of traditionists are waiting in the wings to "cast
the first stone" and begin one of the biggest bible debates in years.

Some critics have already charged that the editors have censored the bible
in order to order to make it fit the political trends of the day.

The book will be published Sept. 11 by Oxford University Press, a major
publisher of biblical translations.

"This translation is aimed at churches and Christians who are thoughtful
about the way the bible includes everyone. I think political correctness is
a perjorative term which is used by people who want the bible to produce
obedience not thoughtfulness," said Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite of the
Chicago Theological Seminary, who is one of the six editors.

"I have had people say to me: 'If the King James version of the bible was
good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for me,"' she added.

Thistlethwaite said the editors were proud of the way they handled the
anti-Semitic overtones of the New Testament.

For example, they have eliminated all references to the Jews killing Jesus
as in Thessalonians 2:14-15, which in standard translations says: "... for
you suffered the same things from your own compatriots as they did from the
Jews who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets."

That becomes in the inclusive translation: "... for you suffered the same
from your own compatriots as they did from those who killed the Lord Jesus
and the prophets."

"I believe we are one of the first translations to take on the issue of
anti-Semitism," Thistlethwaite said. "The New Testament consists of Jews
talking to Jews. They are not saying the Jews are bad, they are saying 'We
Jews over here disagree with you Jews over there.' When John talks of Jews
he means Jewish leaders."

The translation also makes a great effort to reduce the number of times God
is referred to as Lord because lords as a ruling group are passe.

"The Lord God doesn't cut it these days because we don't have lords. I
thought of using the phrase 'The One to Whom You Swear Allegiance,' but
frankly that was awkward. We often use the phrase 'Most High,' because it is
more accurate," Thistlethwaite said.

The 23rd Psalm, which used to begin "The Lord is my shepherd" now starts
"God is my shepherd" and the pronoun "he" is dropped entirely from the poem.

The word "slaves" is also dropped in the new translation, replaced by
"people who were enslaved," and the phrase "the blind" becomes "people who
are blind." But the editors drew a line at calling disabled people
"differently abled."

Thistlethwaite insisted in an interview that the authors of the King James
verison "felt themselves much freer to depart from the original word of the
text than we did."

For example, in the King James version the phrase "God regards not the legs
of the runner" becomes: "The race is not to the swift."

	What can we call the right wing crowd Ray, hockey players? :-)

    Why *so* many versions of the Bible?  Why must there be a version for
    every race, culture and attitude?  If the Bible is not an inerrant
    work, why is it so plagiarized?
    
    As I look around today on this earth, I see a spiritual famine in the
    land.  This famine is causing a search for spiritual food.  These
    Bibles being created are an attempt at fast food spirituality.  But it
    will only destroy the soul.  And then God will be blamed for the
    destruction.
    
    The good news is in Christ Jesus' return for his people.  For those
    that have a heart-working knowledge of His salvation.  The above is
    merely a preparation for this.  This earth will embrace the antiChrist
    to quench the spiritual famine.  And he will be their savior.  
    
    Christians rejoice, I say rejoice, for there shall no evil befall thee.
    Psalms 91:10.
    
    Nancy

    
    RE: .379
    
    Hmmmm....I seem to remember Paul saying something about becoming all
    things to all people, so that some might be saved.  YO!  I think it's
    fresh!  :'D
    
    Jilla

I agree, Jill, to an extent.

To attempt, as best as possible, to translate the original concepts into
another language or dialect, in the hopes of reaching other people, it a good
thing.  Even if that language is considered 'slang.'  I didn't have any
problem with the slang version, though I never read it nor had any particular
interest in reading it.  I've been reading the New Testament in the new
translation "The Message," and for what it is, I like it.

But when is a translation is made with the express intent of filtering out
concepts that are note in vogue with current thought, that's not a good thing
at all.

Paul

    
    Oh I would agree Paul.  We can't change the content, only the 
    delivery.  Sorry I hadn't read that in .379...maybe I missed it.
    I've enjoyed sections of "The Message" too.  Actually just gave
    my copy to a non-christian friend who is very anti-religion because
    her brother is a moonie.  I've tried to tell her that christianity
    is not just a religion, it's a relationship.  I don't know if she'll
    read the book, but I hope so.  It might open up some questions for
    her that I couldn't.  Her name is Heidi if you'd like to be praying
    for her. 
    
    Jilla

    Re: Note 15.382 by CSC32::KINSELLA
    
�    Hmmmm....I seem to remember Paul saying something about becoming all
�    things to all people, so that some might be saved.  YO!  I think it's
�    fresh!  :'D
    
    Hi Jilla,
    
    I think it would be edifying for you to study the context surrounding
    Paul's statement (1 Cor. 9). He's not saying that "anything goes" in
    order for folks to come to know the Lord. He's saying that, within the
    context of the Christian experience, he's willing to sacrifice his
    personal liberties, adopt certain behaviors, etc., so that he isn't
    a stumbling block to others.
    
    The key is, "within the context of the Christian experience." He
    certainly wouldn't advocate, for example, polluting God's Word or
    sinning. This new translation seems to be a pollution of the Word.
    
    	BD�

| <<< Note 15.381 by JULIET::MORALES_NA "Sweet Spirit's Gentle Breeze" >>>

| Why *so* many versions of the Bible?  

	Because not everyone agrees with the versions that are out there now.

| Why must there be a version for every race, culture and attitude?  

	Different interpretations maybe?

| If the Bible is not an inerrant work, why is it so plagiarized?

	Anything can be plagiarized. Does it make anything inerrant? No. 

| As I look around today on this earth, I see a spiritual famine in the land. 
| This famine is causing a search for spiritual food. These Bibles being created
| are an attempt at fast food spirituality.  

	I have to admit, that did set things in perspective. But then you're
left with which version (out of all versions out there) is the correct one? 

| But it will only destroy the soul. 

	I do not agree with that. It isn't the book that destroys the souls, it
is the people. I have heard many times in here when people bring up how the
Bible was used for this or that kind of destruction, it was always pointed out
that it was the people who were at fault, not the book. Why does it seem
different in this case?

| And then God will be blamed for the destruction.

	It happens now, even with the Bible.

| This earth will embrace the antiChrist to quench the spiritual famine. And he 
| will be their savior.

	Nancy, how can a book do this? 


Glen

    
    Hi Barry,
    
    I just wanted to clarify something.  I never said anything goes.  
    I commented on a 2 paragraph note about the bible being translated
    into modern day street slang so that the gangs who desparately
    need saving can be reached.  And I still have no problem with 
    that.  I know the context of the verse I used and I believe I
    used it rightly.  Having reread the chapter at your bidding, I
    still believe I used it rightly.  I don't think it's any worse
    than translating the original scriptures in English.  
    
    I hope this doesn't come off as sounding too matter of fact, I'm just 
    in a hurry.  I leave on vacation tomorrow morning and have some stuff 
    to wrap up here.
    
    Jilla

    Re: Note 15.387 by CSC32::KINSELLA
    
�    I just wanted to clarify something.  I never said anything goes.  
    
    Thanks for the clarification, Jilla. Since I don't yet have the
    pleasure of knowing you too well, I didn't know where you were coming
    from. There are those who cite 1 Cor. 9:22 to make the claim that
    anything goes. I'm glad to see you're not one of them. :-)
    
    	BD�

(Williamsburg, Va.) - When Julia Oxrieder put her home on the market for 
sale she took out an ad in the local newspaper. Close proximity to grocery 
store, public transportation and churches," Oxrieder's ad stated. The 
Newport News Daily Press informed Oxrieder that state laws against housing 
discrimination would not allow them to publish her classified ad unless the 
reference to churches was removed. Oxrieder agreed to the change, but she 
wrote letters to the editor of the Daily Press and other area papers. 
Virginia State Delegate George W. Grayson, D-Williamsburg, called the law 
"just crazy" and recently proposed a revision to state housing law that 
would "allow citizens and their agents to mention proximity to churches, 
synagogues, temples, mosques, and other places of worship in describing 
property to be sold or rented." In a mid-July letter to state Legislative 
Services Director E.M. Miller, Grayson summarized Oxrieder's predicament. 
"This is just political correctness run amok," he told the Richmond 
Times-Dispatch. To thank Grayson for his stand on this issue, write to Hon. 
George W. Grayson, House of Delegates of Virginia, State Capitol, Richmond, 
Va. 23219 or phone (804)786- 6609. (Richmond Times-Dispatch July 14, Facts 
On file, Christian Coalition national headquarters.) 

 Though not as newsworthy in the eyes of the world as Mr. Ripken's achievement,
 2 souls were saved during our Tuesday night visitation.  I wonder which 
 received the most attention in heaven?




 Jim

    That's great news, Jim!!

    Absolutely!!!

BISHOP DENOUNCES OXFORD BIBLE TRANSLATION

ERIE, PA (CWN) - In a strongly worded memorandum to his fellow 
American bishops, Bishop Donald Trautman of Erie, Penn.-- the 
chairman of the American bishops' committee on liturgy-- took aim 
at a new translation of the New Testament, recently published by 
Oxford University Press.

Bishop Trautman charged that "The New Testament and Psalms: An 
Inclusive Version" is "a most irresponsible translation that offends 
the doctrine of the Church and revealed truth of Father, Son and Holy 
Spirit.

Although the use of "inclusive language" has become the focal point 
of a heated debate on Scriptural translations, Bishop Trautman made 
it clear that he was not backing away from the use of gender-neutral 
terms where they are appropriate. "This new version," he said, 
"represents a radical and extreme reaction to the need for a balanced 
use of inclusive language."

"The New Testament and Psalms: An Inclusive Version" does go far 
beyond any previous effort to adopt inclusive language; in the 
Gospels, Jesus is quoted as referring to God as "Father-Mother." And 
gender questions are not the only sensitive topics addressed by the 
Oxford version. The new translation also carefully avoids negative 
references to darkness as opposed to light; references to God's right 
hand are expunged, lest left-handed people feel slighted.

PRESS RELEASE

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Police and members of Scientology church enter offices of XS4ALL
    ================================================================

Amsterdam - thuesday september 5, 1995.

Today at about 14:00, XS4ALL was visited by Mr. S. Braan,
bailiff. He was acting on behalf of the Religious
Technology Centre, better known as the Scientology Church, or
Scientology for short. He was assisted by a local police officer and Mr.
Hermans from the 'Nauta-Dutilh' legal firm that represents Scientology
in The Netherlands. Also present were two computer experts (Mr. Ootjes
and Mr. Van Suchtelen) a locksmith (to enter had we not been present) and
two American employees of Scientology, Mr. Weightman and Ms. Jenssen.

Scientology is filing for seizure of XS4ALL's computer equipment. Under
dutch law, this means that a bailiff comes in to record your assets. In
real-life, the computer-experts that were present have recorded the
types and serial numbers of all the computers in our offices. They did
not take any equipment, the continuity of XS4ALL's services is not in
jeopardy.

What is this all about?
-----------------------

The Scientology Church claims that the XS4ALL anonymous remailer was used
to disseminate documents over the Internet to which the church holds the
legal copyright. This has led the church to ask the president of the
district court of Amsterdam to grant permission for this seizure as a
prelude to legal procedures concerning damages suffered by the church.
The remailer in question has been disabled more than 2 months ago.

During the visit of Scientology to XS4ALL this afternoon, the remailer
was not the subject of any conversation. The organisation seemed totally
preoccupied with the information about Scientology that one of our users
has put on his home page. Part of this information is said to be a file
to which Scientology holds the copyright. If we were to delete the file
in question on the spot, they were willing to drop the seizure.

Responsability of Internet Providers
------------------------------------

XS4ALL categorically denies any responsability for contents of users'
homepages. The users decide for themselves what is on their homepage.
Since XS4ALL does not edit the homepages and has no mechanism of
control over the contents we strongly feel that the users themselves are
responsible for what they say on their homepage.

This whole affair demonstrates the need for clarity concerning the legal
postion of Internet Providers. We are shocked that our offices can be
invaded bij freshly flown-in U.S. cult members. If we as Internet
providers are held responsible for what our users say, that will
undoubtebly kill freedom of speech on the net.

Scare-tactics
-------------

XS4ALL is not alone in receiving this kind of attention from
Scientology. Scientology, a semi-religious multinational, is at war with
a number of people on the Internet. A non-organized group of people on
the net has started to openly discuss the activities of the church.
Until recently, the church has always managed to supress critical voices
by means of sheer intimidation and by engaging in endless legal battle.

One of the people that Scientology has a problem with is 'fonss', an
XS4ALL user that publishes the F.A.C.T.-net Kit on his home page
(http://www.xs4all.nl/~fonss). This kit (which can be found on numerous
homepages all over the Internet) consists of a large number of documents
that show the true face of Scientology.

One of these documents is a piece to which Scientology supposedly holds
the copyright and which has been added to the kit without the church's
permission.

Additional information can be found on the Internet:

http://www.cybercom.net/~rnewman/scientology/home.html

Not really Religion in the News, but I didn't know where else to put it, and
I didn't want to start a new note.  From Dave Barry's recent article on
teenage smoking:

       My first cigarette was a Kent (with the Micronite filter, whatever
    that was). Louie Rotando gave it to me one night, the summer I turned
    15. Words cannot describe how cool and mature I felt, inhaling the
    smoke, then exhaling it through my nose, then in haling, then exhaling,
    then - in a major display of mature coolness - lying down in the dirt
    and retching until dawn. That was my body's way of telling me that it
    personally did not care for cigarettes. But I did not listen to my
    body: I was determined to become a smoker. My reasoning was the same
    then as it is for teen-agers today.

       Argument against smoking: It's a repulsive addiction that slowly but
       surely turns you into a gasping, gray-skinned, tumor-ridden invalid,
       hacking up brownish gobs of toxic waste from your one remaining lung.

       Argument for smoking: Other teen-agers are doing it.

    Case closed.  Let's light up. 

****************************************

Funny, but sadly true, and not just for teenagers.

Paul

 
    Thursday, October 12, 1995 � Page A17 
    � 1995 San Francisco Chronicle 


    Los Altos Schools Ban Halloween
    Costumes, parties said to be `religious issues' 

    John Wildermuth, Chronicle Peninsula Bureau 

    To the dismay of some parents, Los Altos schools have banned Halloween
    costumes, parties and art projects during the school day, arguing that
    the observances are part of a religious celebration. 

    Some parents and children in the district believe that ghosts, witches
    and demons are dangerous supernatural creatures and that it is wrong to
    masquerade as them, school officials say. 

    ``What happens when teachers who those students trust and love are seen
    joking and laughing when another child is dressed as a Halloween
    witch?'' school board President Phil Faillace said yesterday. ``We take
    the First Amendment separations seriously, where schools can't be seen
    to endorse beliefs about religious issues.'' 

    The ban, which could be the first in the Bay Area, comes as part of the
    district's yearlong effort to resolve a controversy over how to treat
    religious holidays. 

    The dispute was touched off two years ago when some parents complained
    about the use of Christmas carols in winter concerts. Then last year,
    other parents complained about a lack of Christmas songs and the
    inclusion of Hanukkah songs. 

    Now it's Halloween that is the focus of the church-versus-state
    dispute. 

    ``Teaching about Halloween will fall under the guidelines of teaching
    about religious beliefs and customs,'' Faillace said. ``And school time
    may not be used to celebrate Halloween, just as it may not be used to
    celebrate Easter, Yom Kippur or Ramadan.'' 

    The decision will not affect after-school activities, such as Halloween
    parades and carnivals sponsored by the PTA, but eliminates any
    celebration during the school day, said Superintendent Marge Gratiot. 

    That edict made little sense to many parents, who have bombarded
    district officials with letters and telephone calls. 

    ``We were totally surprised and taken aback by the school board's
    revelations of the religious significance . . . of Halloween,'' said
    Patrick Ferrell, a district parent. ``I have always viewed Halloween
    the way Norman Rockwell would have painted the image of this American
    tradition.'' 

    Mark Euchner, who has three sons in district schools, is another who
    can't understand the ruling. 

    ``My kids are really upset,'' he said. ``I can understand concern about
    a religious aspect, but they just wanted to dress up as cartoon
    characters.'' 

    The issue flared up last week when school officials asked the trustees
    how they should handle Halloween. 

    The ban also will force changes in the type of things teachers do
    during the fall. 

    ``Halloween will not be the theme underlying October's activities,''
    George Manthey, principal of Bullis-Purissima School, wrote in a
    newsletter for parents. ``Teachers may still read aloud stories if
    that's the best way to achieve some curricular objective, but they
    should point out any parts that deal with religious issues and
    summarize the differing beliefs about them.'' 

    While some Halloween-related activities still may be offered, they
    cannot be required, Faillace said. 

    ``Teachers can't tell students to draw a jack-o'-lantern, but they can
    have students depict their favorite parts of fall, which could include
    jack-o'-lanterns,'' he said. 

    The religious observance question has been a minefield for the Los
    Altos trustees, who even have had to discuss the religious significance
    of the paper dragons some classes make for Chinese New Year. 

    An early draft of the board policy, which still is not complete, said
    teachers may not ``assign or recruit'' students to sing any song that
    is not ``neutral among all religious beliefs (including polytheistic,
    monotheistic, nontheistic or atheistic religious beliefs).'' 

    The issue is bewildering to Ferrell and many other parents, who plan to
    question school board members on the Halloween policy at a meeting
    Monday. 

    ``I'm 40 years old, and I've never heard of Halloween being tied to the
    ancient Celts, with a grounding in evil,'' he said. ``For me, it's
    always been a fun time when children can dress up and go trick-or-
    treating.'' 
                

    Halloween Ban Draws Angry Crowd / Los Altos school board hadn't
    expected outcry 
	
    
    Halloween Ban Draws Angry Crowd
    Los Altos school board hadn't expected outcry
    
    John Wildermuth, Chronicle Peninsula Bureau 
    
    More than 800 outraged Los Altos parents and students left no  doubt
    last night that they were upset with their public school  board's
    decision to ban traditional Halloween celebrations from the  school
    day.	 
    
    With nine TV camera crews on hand, including one from CNN, the  board
    had made no decision by 11 p.m. on whether to reverse its  stand. But
    it had listened to more than 40 speakers berate the  trustees and
    allege that they had surrendered to a tiny minority of  conservative
    Christians intent on imposing their views on the  district. Some
    teachers also accused the district of censorship.	 
    
    ``We can't allow a small group with a narrow cultural agenda to 
    dictate how we behave in this community,'' said Irene Zimbeck, a 
    district parent.	 
    
    Two weeks ago, the Los Altos Elementary School District trustees 
    decided that because Halloween celebrations could offend the  religious
    beliefs of some residents, the district should not allow  them during
    school hours.	 
    
    The decision does not affect costume parades and parties held  after
    school.	 
    
    Only a handful of people stood up to defend the trustees'  decision.
    ``I feel the decision is a very good one,'' said Terry  Roberts,
    another district parent. She told trustees she was concerned  because
    there are ``15 to 20 thousand witches in the Bay Area. I'm  sure there
    are some in the audience.''	 
    
    Every seat in the gym at Blach intermediate school in Los Altos  was
    filled. The fire marshal closed the meeting with more than 100  people
    still standing outside.	 
    
    A number of people, including many students, came in costume.	 
    
    The board did not foresee their ban on schooltime Halloween  activities
    becoming a nationwide cause celebre when they agreed to  downplay the
    traditional celebrations.	 
    
    For the past year, the district has been trying to put together a 
    policy on how to deal with religious holidays. In the past, some 
    parents in the district have complained that the winter concerts, 
    formerly known as Christmas concerts, have been too religious. Others 
    argued that the absence of traditional carols and the addition of  some
    Hanukkah songs ignored the sensibilities of Christian students  and
    parents.	 
    
    Whipsawed between the two points of view, the trustees have vowed  to
    make the concerts, and other school activities, completely  secular,
    with no tinge of a religious point of view. Songs of  friendship and
    brother- and sisterhood will replace the Christmas and  Hanukkah tunes
    in this year's winter concerts, for example.	 
    
    ``We won't be singing `Deck the Halls' unless we're doing a  program
    with an interior decorating theme,'' one district trustee  said earlier
    this year.	 
    
    The question of religious observances has turned into a Pandora's  box
    for the trustees. The discussion, centering originally on  Christmas
    songs, soon grew to include the religious significance of  the dragons
    students draw for Chinese New Year, Christmas trees and,  of course,
    Halloween.	 
 

    (c) The Chronicle Publishing Company
                                        

Spilled cremation ashes spark cultural and religious furor at Arizona school
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

(c) 1995 N.Y. Times News Service

WINSLOW, Ariz. (Oct 30, 1995 - 23:24 EST) -- Suffice it to say that Winslow
High School is more than a little spooked today.

Two weeks ago, a 16-year-old junior brought the cremated remains of her
mother in a heart-shaped box to English class to show a friend.

The box was opened mistakenly, and some of the ashes of the woman, who died
about two years ago, fell on the floor, school officials say.

That led to a panic and boycott of school among many of the 800 students,
more than half of whom are Navajos or Hopis. Both tribes have strong taboos
about death. Two medicine men were summoned to the classroom to do cleansing
ceremonies.

But now, some evangelical Christian congregations in Winslow, 125 miles
northeast of Phoenix, are up in arms.

They say they have been denied access to the classroom for a prayer session
to remove the effects of the traditional Indian ceremonies on Christian
students at the school. They say they will sue the school district unless
they are given that access.

"Just like those ashes are to traditional people, the ceremonies are in
violation to people who believe in Jesus Christ," said the Rev. Jack Miller
of Potter's House church in Winslow. "If they let one group of religious
people go in there, what about our equal access?"

Principal John Henling says he's just trying to avoid another war pitting
church against state.

"We recognized right off that we had a cultural problem on our hands,"
Henling said. "That's why the ceremonies took place, out of respect to our
Native American students."

Henling said that when 100 students boycotted school Oct. 18, a Navajo
medicine man was brought in to conduct a ceremony to remove evil spirits
from the classroom. But school officials found out that he wasn't a
traditional medicine man and were back to square one.

So, another Navajo medicine man and a spiritual leader from the Hopi
Reservation performed ceremonies after 9 p.m. on Oct. 19.

"We had the ceremonies late at night so we would have as little intrusion on
the normal school life as possible," Henling said.

The unidentified student who brought the remains to school was not
disciplined, Henling said, because "we have a lot of things in our student
handbook, but we never thought about putting anything in about what happens
to those who bring human remains."

Cheryl Todicheeney, an official with the Navajo Nation's Teesto chapter,
located 40 miles from Winslow, says the school ought to start thinking that
way.

"I can't believe that some Anglos are so ignorant about our culture that
something like this could happen," Todicheeney said, adding that more than
half of Teesto's 60 students at Winslow High skipped classes because of the
spilling of the ashes.

"It makes it even worse because a lot of our kids have to live down there
around this at the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) dorm to go to school."

Miller said the real harm has been done to Native American members of his
church.

"They feel like they've been witched by those traditional ceremonies,"
Miller said. "We've contacted the American Center for Law and Justice and
other Washington people. We're not going to take this without an appropriate
response."

AUSTRALIA: SYDNEY ARCHBISHOP SPEAKS OUT ON EUTHANASIA

(Australian News and Reports) The Archbishop of Sydney, the Most Revd Harry
Goodhew, has made an impassioned plea for Anglicans to oppose legalised
euthanasia.

During his presidential address to the 1995 Sydney Synod, Archbishop
Goodhew urged the members to imagine the world a hundred years from now
should protections surrounding human life be abandoned.

Even those who do not share a Christian conviction can recognise the
"sombre joyless hue" of a society "dominated by death", he said.

"It is not about turning off machines when life can no longer be supported,
nor is it about accepting unwarranted intrusions into the life of a patient
to maintain life at any cost. It is about purposeful killing; taking the
life of another person.

"It is important to maintain a society where life is valued, and where
compassion and pity express themselves not in a lethal injection, but in
care and medical practises which take people through the closing stages of
life with dignity and without pain."

Archbishop Goodhew was also critical of a planned NSW parliamentary forum
on euthanasia which excluded Churches and representatives from the aged,
disabilities and indigenous communities. The forum was organised for
Monday, 16 October, by the Speaker of the Lower House, Mr John Murray, and
was restricted almost exclusively to speakers from the medical profession.

"While I am supportive of a parliamentary forum, and I applaud the
initiative of the Speaker, Mr Murray, I appeal to him to reconsider his
decision to exclude Church representatives," Archbishop Goodhew said.

"Euthanasia cannot be discussed simply from medical, scientific or even
legal perspectives. Euthanasia is not just a technical matter, nor should
it be decided by legislative pragmatists with an eye on voter support. It
is a human issue, and questions of life, death and meaning have profound
moral, ethical and spiritual implications for both individuals and the
wider community."

 Snarf in the news!

Where does Judaism stand in the cultural wars?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

(c) 1995 Copyright Nando.net
(c) 1995 N.Y. Times News Service

NEW YORK (Nov 3, 1995 - 20:42 EST) -- It is pretty clear where most American
Jews stand in the cultural wars now dividing the nation. It is not so clear
where Judaism stands.

Most Jews in the United States continue to vote Democratic, back abortion
rights, uphold strict separation of church and state, favor federal
initiatives to combat discrimination and inequality, respond with alarm to
the emergence of a conservative Christian political movement and generally
feel that the more secular the society, at least in its public demeanor and
certainly in its government policies, the safer it is for the Jewish
minority.

But some Jews -- a large segment of the Orthodox, plus a battalion of
increasingly conservative intellectuals -- have challenged these positions
as "liberal pieties" that, whatever the situation in the past, now
contradict Jewish interests. Both Jewish camps in the culture wars contend
that they have Jewish tradition on their side.

That is why the Jewish Theological Seminary, the intellectual nerve center
of Conservative Judaism in New York, organized a series of lectures and
dialogues on "Revisioning America: Culture Wars and the Jewish Tradition."

Running from mid-October to mid-November, the series features an impressive
cast of Jewish intellectuals: Leon Wieseltier, Midge Decter, Michael Walzer,
William Kristol, Leonard Fein, Jack Wertheimer, Richard Bernstein and Irving
Levine.

Two weeks ago, the seminary's chancellor, Rabbi Ismar Schorsch, debated the
Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, neoconservative Roman Catholic theologian and the
one non-Jew in the series, on "The Role of Religion in the Public Square."

Neuhaus argued that an adamantly secular "public square" in the United
States, where more than nine of 10 citizens base their morality on religion,
was doomed to be anti-democratic. That, he said, would set Jewish interests
against the overwhelming majority and be a formula for disaster.

A public life stripped of religion "is the most dangerous of places" for
minorities, he warned, for it undercuts "inhibition against unspeakable
evil."

In his rejoinder, Schorsch disagreed that religion had been banished from
American public life. The issue, he said, was the removal of religion not
from society but from the state: a religiously neutral state did not mean a
religiously neutral society.

In any case, the proposition that more religion in either state or society
was better for the Jews "had not been verified by the Jewish historical
experience" in Europe, he said, and Jews were loath to conduct a fresh
experiment in the United States.

Neuhaus and Schorsch carried on their exchange in a low key that held out
the promise of common ground. Less so with the exchange on Jewish liberalism
and conservatism last Thursday between Walzer, professor of social science
at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J., and the co-editor of
Dissent magazine, and Ms. Decter, essayist and former head of the Committee
for the Free World.

Liberalism, Walzer said, has two meanings today: a liberalism of civil
liberties, individualism, toleration and pluralism and a liberalism of the
New Deal, welfare state, distributive justice and trade unionism.

The Jewish connection to the second, he said, is clear; it was the first he
wished to address.

This liberalism was relatively new to Judaism and Jews, he said: A century
and a half ago, with emancipation from the ghetto, many Jews took up
opposition to all enforced orthodoxies. "Like new converts," he said, "we
were more liberal than the liberals."

"One cluster of liberal values appealed especially to Jews who wanted to be
emancipated and who wanted to be Jewish at the same time," Walzer said,
"toleration, freedom of association and their derivative, cultural
pluralism."

The latter implied political and economic integration in the larger society,
he said, but also a cultural distinctiveness maintained by means of a full
panoply of Jewish institutions, from nursery schools and community centers
to philanthropic organizations and theological seminaries.

In current jargon, Walzer said, this cultural pluralism could be called
"meat-and-potatoes multiculturalism," -- not "a rhetorical, gestural,
ideologically strident multiculturalism" but one focusing on "the actual
institutions that make a common life possible," institutions that, in a
liberal, pluralist society, frequently receive state help.

Not only is this meat-and-potatoes multiculturalism threatened, Walzer said,
from those who "aim at turning multiculturalism into a literal separatism"
and, in the Jewish case, from those calling for "a Christian or at least
Christianized republic."

It is also threatened, he said, by those calling "for a market society in
the strongest sense," which would remove the financial props now provided by
government.

The liberal pluralism and multi-culturalism that Walzer defended, Ms. Decter
described in starkly different terms. It was a liberalism that by the 1970s
had grown hostile to merit and meritocracy and favored racial and sexual
quotas. It was a liberalism, she said, that let itself be identified with "a
deep-going decadence," rejecting all standards of achievement and moral
conduct.

If Jewish conservatives like herself are willing to make common cause with
Christian conservatives against this liberalism, she said, it is because the
secularism that both oppose is "taking the country down into nihilism." She
said, "Jews will not long continue to thrive under its umbrella."

Did Ms. Decter think that the "market society in the strongest sense," to
use Walzer's phrase, might have a good deal to do with "deep-going
decadence?" Did Walzer see anything embedded in the individualist and
multicultural liberalism that he described that might have something to do
with Ms. Decter's horizon of horrors?

Unfortunately, in the questions-and-answer period that followed their
remarks, the opportunities to bring the two perspectives into useful
confrontation always slipped away. Maybe that, more than anything else, is
the curse of the culture wars.

In Sudan, charity buys freedom of slaves
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

(c) 1995 Copyright Nando.net
(c) 1995 Times of London

LONDON (Nov 3, 1995 - 20:12 EST) -- A British charity working in Sudan is
buying back Christian slaves kidnapped by Arab militias and forced to become
Muslims.

A team from Christian Solidarity International (CSI) went to Sudan and spent
10,000 pounds to free 22 children and young women. The charity agreed with
local leaders in Nyamlell, southern Sudan, to buy five cows for every slave
and use these as payment.

Baroness Caroline Cox, a member of the CSI team, said: "I just couldn't
leave these people behind knowing we could have helped them."

Tens of thousands of black Christian Sudanese in the south of the country
have been abducted by gangs of soldiers, who sell them as slaves to Muslims
in the north. According to Baroness Cox, the enslaved children and young
women are forced to do house and agricultural work as well as provide sexual
services. They are generally given Muslim names and forced to observe
Islamic rituals.

The boys are said to be forced to attend Koran lessons and militia camps
where they are trained to wage war on their own people.

Since 1989, the Christians have been fighting President al-Bashir, who has
been accused of involvement in an assassination attempt against President
Mubarak of Egypt in Khartoum this year. Dr. George Carey, the Archbishop of
Canterbury, visited southern Sudan last year to lend support to the
embattled Christian community.

He said the situation there was extremely desperate: "What moved me most was
the strength of the people's faith, coupled with the desperation of their
plight."

Two of those who were brought back from slavery are Bol Kuol, 13, and his
brother Deng Kuol, 6. The older boy had been kidnapped with his mother in
1988, who at the time was pregnant with his younger brother.

Both boys were given Arabic names and were forced to adopt Islamic
practises. Now that they are back in their native village, the younger boy
is unable to communicate with his own people as he never learned their
language.

Another Christian, Apin Apin Akot, actually travelled to northern Sudan at
considerable personal risk to buy back his family which had been kidnapped
earlier this year. He negotiated with their "owner," who would only release
his wife and one of his two daughters for the twenty-five cows he was
offering as payment. He is now hoping to buy back his other daughter with
the support of CSI.

The charity said: "This is the first time we have done this and we will be
monitoring it closely. If we are satisfied with the results in principle we
will continue to fund the buy-back of slaves in Sudan."

Yitzhak Rabin assassinated
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

(c) 1995 Copyright Nando.net
From Wire Reports

TEL AVIV, Israel (Nov 4, 1995 - 17:48 EST) -- Prime Minister Yitzhak
Rabin, an Israeli war hero who became one of his country's foremost
architects of peace, was shot and killed Saturday night as he left a
pro-peace rally. A suspect, a right-wing Jewish law student, was in custody.

Rabin, 73, was about to get into his car when the gunman fired three bullets
from a close distance, hitting Rabin in the back and stomach. He was taken
to Tel Aviv's Ichilov Hospital, where he died about an hour later on the
operating table.

Hundreds of people waiting outside the hospital burst into tears when
Rabin's top aide, Eitan Haber, announced that Rabin had died. In spontaneous
mourning, Israelis held up candles and cigarette lighters to express their
sorrow.

Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, who was with Rabin at the rally and was only
yards away when the shots were fired, assumed the leadership of the
government.

By law, when a prime minister dies in office, the government is deemed to
have resigned and becomes a transitional government. The president, Ezer
Weizman, must begin contacts on the formation of a new government.

Peres convened the shaken Cabinet ministers for a special mourning session
in Tel Aviv late Saturday. One of the ministers, Yossi Sarid, vowed that the
government would carry on Rabin's peace policies.

PLO chief Yasser Arafat, who shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Rabin, said
that Rabin was a "great leader of peace."

Israeli radio and TV reports identified the gunman as Yigal Amir, a
27-year-old law student from the central town of Herzliya who had been
involved in right-wing causes, including setting up illegal settlements in
the West Bank.

TV reports said Amir told his investigators he acted alone and that he did
not regret the deed.

"I acted alone on God's orders and I have no regrets," the radio quoted
Amir, a student, as telling police investigators.

Earlier Saturday, a previously unknown Jewish extremist group, identified
only as "In," claimed responsibility in an announcement given to Israeli
police reporters on their beepers.

Government spokesman Uri Dromi said that "a Jewish organization which is
anti-government and against the peace process took responsibility." He said
the group identified the gunman as acting for them.

Television footage from the rally showed a clean-shaven man with short, dark
hair being pinned to a wall by dozens of police.

Just before his death, Rabin had spoken at a rally held in Tel Aviv's Kings
Square in support of their peace policies. Some 100,000 people attended.

Noam Kedem, a 26-year-old lawyer from Tel Aviv who supports the peace
process, said he heard two or three shots and "I saw Rabin holding his
stomach. I don't know exactly where he was shot, but he was holding his
whole body and then he fell on the ground."

He said security men hovered over him and then two more shots were fired.

Avital Shahar, an official of the right-wing Likud Party's youth wing, said
the shooting was "the worst thing that has ever happened in this country."

As he spoke, onlookers shouted insults, blaming the attack on right-wing
incitement. In recent weeks, the government reportedly increased security
around Rabin and his Cabinet members after threats from right-wing groups.

"I am horrified by this terrible attack, and I am praying along with all of
Israel for Rabin's health and I wish him with all my heart a speedy
recovery," said Likud Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu.

In recent weeks, Rabin had expressed concern about growing political
violence in Israel, which is deeply divided over his autonomy agreement with
the Palestinians. Under the accord, Israeli troops are to pull out of most
West Bank towns and villages by the end of the year.

At a recent anti-government rally in Jerusalem, protesters held up posters
of Rabin in a Nazi uniform and others jumped and banged on the car of
Housing Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer.

At last Sunday's Cabinet session, Ben-Eliezer brought up the issue of
growing political violence. Education Minister Amnon Rubinstein voiced
concern that many of the right-wing protesters were armed. Many Israelis,
especially Jewish settlers, are given guns by the government for
self-protection.

Rabin was born March 1, 1922 in Jerusalem into a socialist family. In high
school, he joined the Palmach underground army and as a 26-year-old
commanded the Harel Brigades that defended Jerusalem against Arab troops in
the 1948 Middle East war.

He served as army chief of staff from 1963 to 1968, followed by a four-year
stint as Israel's ambassador to Washington.

In 1974, Israel's ruling Labor Party designated Rabin, then a political
freshmen, to succeed Prime Minister Golda Meir, who had to step down after
leading Israel to the brink of disaster in the 1973 Yom Kippur war.

Three years later, Rabin himself had to resign over his wife Leah's illegal
U.S. bank account, and he also lost leadership of the party to his political
archrival, Shimon Peres.

With the 1977 election victory of the right-wing Likud party, Rabin moved to
the sidelines for seven years, but in 1984 was called back and served for
six years as defense minister in Labor-Likud coalition governments.

After his 1992 election victory, Rabin told his people it was time to
discard old fears and build a lasting peace.

"No longer are we necessarily 'A people that dwell alone,' and no longer is
it true that 'The whole world is against us'," he said.

     New York Leaders Bemoan Rabin's Loss, Urge More Peace Efforts

     Associated Press , 11/04

     NEW YORK (AP) - New York leaders expressed shock and outrage Saturday
     over the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in Tel
     Aviv.

     ``All of New York joins with the people of Israel in shock, sorrow and
     prayer,'' said a statement from Governor George E. Pataki.

     He said the assassination was ``another signal of the dangerous times
     we live in and the importance of making every effort to bring about
     peace.''

     New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani echoed the thought, calling
     Rabin's loss ``a tragedy that shocks the entire world.''

     ``Israel has lost a patriot and great leader, America has lost a
     steadfast friend and the world has lost a unique man whose bravery and
     wisdom have become a force for peace,'' Giuliani said.

     Giuliani said that New Yorkers were praying and sending condolences to
     Rabin's widow, Leah and his family. ``We must do all that we can to
     live up to his legacy of peace.''

     Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) told The Associated Press there was a
     ``chilling parallel,'' between Rabin's fate and that of the late
     Egyptian President Anwar Sadat who was gunned down in 1981, two years
     after becoming the first Arab leader to sign a peace treaty with
     Israel.

     But Engel said he expected peace efforts to go forward, perhaps with
     more resolve, including on the part of the U.S. Congress.

     ``I think this will give impetus to the peace process,'' he said.
     ``This is going to jar a lot of people into realizing how fragile it is
     and how we need to be behind it.''

     Jewish leaders were more emotional in their response.

     The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organization, an
     umbrella group of leading Jewish groups across America, expressed
     ``shock, grief, outrage and condemnation.''

     The Conference's chairman Leon Levy and executive vice chairman Malcolm
     Hoenlein called jointly for a crackdown on a recent ``campaign of
     verbal violence,''against the peace process among right-wingers both in
     Israel and the United States.

     Condemning the assassination as a ``senseless act of violence,
     completely against Jewish values,'' the Conference blamed some of the
     extreme criticism of the peace process by right-wingers for creating a
     climate for the assassination. Levy and Hoenlein called for ``an end to
     the kind of rhetoric, which when pushed to its extreme, can lead to
     terrible deeds, such as the one perpetrated today in Tel Aviv.''

     ``We are shocked and dismayed by this reprehensible act of violence,''
     Tommy P. Baer, President of the Washington-based B'nai B'rith
     International, said.

     AP-DS-11-04-95 1856EST

World Leaders Condemn Rabin Shooting, Extremist Arabs Rejoice

By CINDY ROBERTS

Associated Press Writer

Yitzhak Rabin's enemies lit up the skies over the Middle East with
celebratory gunfire Saturday, while admirers around the world mourned the
violent end to the Israeli Prime Minister's quest for peace.

In Lebanon, Palestinians in a refugee camp in Sidon danced in the streets
and fired rocket-propelled grenades into the air upon word of Rabin's
assassination in Tel Aviv.

"Rabin is dead! Rabin is dead!" chanted one motorcyclist driving through
Beirut's Hamra district, announcing the news to the few celebrants who did
not know. Strangers handed out candy and flowers to one another.

But Middle East partners in the peace process mourned the killing.

PLO chief Yasser Arafat expressed shock and sadness, calling Rabin "a great
leader of peace."

Jordan, which signed a peace treaty with Israel just a year ago, pledged
work for peace would - and must - continue.

"There is only one way to counter extremism on both sides and that is to
press ahead with the peace process," a Jordanian government spokesman said.

President Clinton said, in Washington, "The world has lost one of its
greatest men - a warrior for his nation's freedom, and now a martyr for his
nation's peace."

Hundreds of vehicles toured Muslim west Beirut and the Shiite southern
suburbs, blowing their horns and carrying portraits of Iran's late
revolutionary patriarch Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and flags of Hezbollah.

Many in the crowd shouted "Allahu Akbar," Arabic for "God is Great." Others
beat drums as they sped in cars through the darkened city.

"I do not regret the death of the foremost head of terrorism in the world,"
said Ramadan Abdullah Shallah in Damascus, Syria, new leader of the Islamic
Jihad following an assassination last week that his group blames on Israel.

"What of it, if the world loses one of its killer criminals?" Shallah asked.
"It is the blessing of the blood of the leader Dr. Fathi Shakaki."

Hezbollah television broadcast chants of victory and praised the Muslim holy
war.

Iran's state-run news agency headlined: "Rabin Dead, Paid in His Own Coin."

"Rabin was an ardent advocate of state terrorism and believed that the
Zionist entity should break every international norm in the pursuit of its
sinister goals," the Islamic Republic News Agency said.

In Rome, Pope John Paul II expressed "grief and worry," Italy's ANSA and AGI
news agencies reported.

Rabin was only the latest leader in the Middle East to die for attempting to
bring together the region's people, many world leaders noted.

"It is tragic that exactly political personalities who strive for peace and
reconciliation are victims of attacks," German Finance Minister Theo Waigel
said. "This happened with Egyptian President Anwar el Sadat, and now also
with Rabin."

     Local Leaders Shocked, Saddened By Rabin Assassination

     RACHEL ZOLL, Associated Press , 11/04

     BOSTON (AP) - The assassination of Israel's prime minister, Yitzhak
     Rabin, struck too close to home for Camelia Anwar Sadat, daughter of
     former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.

     ``I feel like my father died today. He was killed by one of his people
     too,'' Sadat said, in an interview from her Boston home Saturday.

     ``I'm crushed. Another peace man is gone from us by the hand of a
     fanatic crazy person,'' she said, tears clogging her voice. Her father
     was assassinated in 1981 by Muslim extremists opposed to his peace
     initiative with Israel.

     As the sun set ending the Jewish Sabbath on Saturday night, Jews from
     around Massachusetts also heard their first reports that the
     unthinkable had happened in Israel.

     Rabin, a war hero who became one of his country's foremost architects
     of peace, was shot and killed Saturday night as he left a pro-peace
     rally in Tel Aviv, Israel. A suspect, a right-wing Jewish law student,
     was in custody.

     ``It's a very black day in the history of Israel and the history of the
     Jewish people,'' said Jehuda Reinharz, the Israeli-born president of
     Brandeis University in Waltham.

     ``I don't recall in that entire history anywhere a Jewish leader being
     assassinated - in any case, being assassinated by Jews,'' he said.

     Leonard Hausman, a Middle East expert at Harvard's John F. Kennedy
     School of Government, said he had spoken to Rabin one week ago in
     Jerusalem at a conference on business opportunities in the Middle East.

     ``As a Jew, it's incomprehensible. It's incomprehensible,'' he said.
     ``I spoke with him for a few minutes alone at the conference. It was a
     wonderful conversation. He was wonderful.''

     Rabin was scheduled to speak at Brandeis on Nov. 15 and at Harvard the
     same night.

     Hausman blamed critics of the peace process for demonizing Rabin and
     creating a climate in which the assassination could occur.

     ``Words like `traitor' and Rabin committing acts of treason - to use
     terms like that to describe a man who led us through the Six Day War is
     unconscionable,'' he said.

     Leonard Zakim, executive director of the Anti-Defamation League of
     B'nai B'rith in Boston, agreed. He said ``words of hate'' were partly
     to blame for the first-ever assassination in the history of Israeli
     democracy.

     ``It is a horrible irony that a man who represented Israeli strength
     during so many wars against the Arabs has lost his life at the hands of
     an Israeli peace terrorist. We feel it's a very tragic loss,'' he said.

     But Rabbi Rachmiel Lieberman, head of Congregation Lubavitch in
     Brookline and a peace process opponent, called such conclusions
     unfounded and premature.

     ``It shouldn't be taken to (the) effect that all Orthodox people or all
     Jewish people were linked together. What exactly led this person to do
     it we don't know at this time. Until we examine this person we don't
     know what his motives are,'' he said.

     Reinharz said the divisions in Israeli society brought into sharp
     relief by the assassination were not great enough to undermine the
     peace process.

     ``I think that most political analysts underestimate the character of
     Israelis and I think that if anything this may just undergird the
     resolve of Israelis to go on with the peace process,'' Reinharz said.

     He drew an analogy to Sadat's assassination, ``which did not diminish
     the resolve of Egypt to go on with the peace process.''

     Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., called Rabin ``a courageous leader''
     and encouraged Middle East leaders to continue peace talks.

     ``Extremists on all sides in the Middle East should know that this
     cowardly violence will not deter the peace process, but rather will
     encourage those who carry on the search for peace to redouble our
     efforts,'' he said.

     AP-DS-11-04-95 1940EST

[Jerusalem Post Internet News Section]

RABIN ASSASSINATED

by RAINE MARCUS, SARAH HONIG, and BATSHEVA TSUR

TEL AVIV (November 5) - Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated last
night by a 27-year-old Herzliya law student, who fired three bullets from a
pistol at him at point-blank range. Rabin was felled as he was entering his
official car at 9:50 p.m. at the conclusion of a massive pro-peace rally in
Tel Aviv's Kikar Malchei Yisrael attended by some 100,000 people.

Rabin was pronounced dead at 11:15 p.m. by doctors at Ichilov Hospital,
where he had been brought with wounds to his back, abdomen, and chest. He
died on the operating table from massive hemorrhaging and heart failure,
without regaining consciousness.

The prime minister was not wearing a bullet-proof vest, security sources
said.

"The government of Israel announces with astonishment and deep sorrow the
death of Prime Minister and Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was murdered
by an assassin tonight in Tel Aviv," senior aide Eitan Haber announced
outside Ichilov.

Foreign Minister Shimon Peres convened the cabinet in Tel Aviv last night in
a special session to appoint a replacement for Rabin, who will head a
transition government. President Ezer Weizman, who arrived at the hospital
at midnight with US Ambassador Martin Indyk, will now consult with the
acting prime minister on the formation of a new government.

Environment Minister Yossi Sarid vowed the government would carry on Rabin's
peace policies.

The funeral is to be on Monday. US President Bill Clinton, who announced
Rabin's death to the US with the Hebrew words, "Shalom haver (goodbye
friend)," told Leah Rabin on the phone last night that he plans to attend.
CNN reported that King Hussein will also attend the funeral.

The assassin, Yigal Amir, a law student at Bar-Ilan University, ran towards
Rabin and fired as the premier was getting into his limousine. Amir told
interrogators at Hayarkon police station that he "did not regret his deed,"
which he said was "planned for some time."

A police source said that Amir had twice before attempted to assassinate
Rabin, but no more details were available. In the two previous attempts,
said the source, Amir tried to get close to the prime minister and was armed
both times.

Amir was apprehended immediately after the shooting by police and pressed up
against a cement wall, as dozens of policemen surrounded him.

Eyewitnesses reported seeing Rabin collapse. His bodyguards pushed him into
the car and whisked him off to Ichilov Hospital, some 500 meters away. One
of Rabin's bodyguards was also wounded by bullets.

Health Minister Ephraim Sneh told reporters at midnight that Rabin sustained
bullet wounds in the spinal cord, spleen, and chest.

"Rabin arrived at the hospital with no blood pressure and no pulse," Sneh
said.

At Ichilov, Yevgeny, an eyewitness in the emergency room, said: "Security
guards ran in suddenly and said, `Clear the room. Rabin has been hit.' Then
they brought him in on a stretcher. His eyes were closed. I believe he was
unconscious. He was lying on his side and there was a big blood stain on his
chest and stomach. Then they told everyone to leave the emergency ward."

The prime minister's wife, Leah, was alongside her husband when the shooting
took place, but was not hurt.

An unknown organization called Ayin -- the Hebrew acronym for Avenging
Jewish Organization -- took the credit for the assassination. The statement
was sent to reporters' beepers and was accompanied by a phone number which
reporters were told not to call.

Hundreds of demonstrators rushed from Kikar Malchei Yisrael to Ichilov as
the news of the shooting circulated. Two cars carrying Likud banners sped by
with people chanting from inside, "Rabin is dead," while Rabin was still on
the operating table.

At the entrance to Ichilov, some 1,000 people gathered but were kept out of
the hospital and the area was lit by television cameras televising
government ministers arriving and rushing into the hospital.

Near the entrance, youths wept and a group of teenagers wearing Peace Now T-
shirts lit candles in a vigil for the prime minister.

Tel Aviv Municipality security officer Arye Rokah was on the city hall
balcony overlooking the plaza. He said that, "As Rabin was getting into his
car, a man ran out from beneath the steps with his hand outstretched and
holding a gun. He fired at Rabin. The bodyguards pushed Rabin into the car
and bolted away from the spot before the ambulances arrived."

Labor MK Dalia Itzik was nearby when the incident occurred. She described
Rabin, coming down the steps, "right after Peres. It was shocking. People
were there and suddenly shots rang out. The security people grabbed Rabin
and within seconds were out of there. I saw Rabin fall. I don't know what
happened to him. There was incredible confusion but he fell and the security
people immediately fell on top of him."

Holon Mayor Motti Sasson, who was standing next to the platform with Itzik,
said: "Rabin came down towards the crowd and was walking towards his car.
Peres had left the podium about two minutes earlier. The attacker shot at
Rabin from less than three meters away. We couldn't see what happened to
Rabin, because the security guards bundled him into the car immediately and
sped off at lightning speed."

"We saw Rabin grabbing his stomach and then falling on the ground. The
guards immediately bundled him into his car. I think there were other
wounded, too," he said.

"Rabin was going down, leaving, and there were four shots," said Yishai
Shuschter. "Chaos broke out and ambulances came here."

Ruth Yadgar said she was also standing near the steps when the prime
minister was walking down with his guards. "First I saw Peres, who was
shaking hands with everyone," she said. "He was followed by singer Miri
Aloni, and then Rabin followed. When he got near his car, we heard shots,
and saw crowds running away."

Rabin had given a moving speech at the rally. His last words to the crowd
were:

"I was a military man for 27 years. I waged war as long as there was no
chance for peace. I believe there is now a chance for peace, a great chance,
and we must take advantage of it for those standing here, and for those who
are not here -- and they are many. I have always believed that the majority
of the people want peace and are ready to take a chance for peace."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Acting Premier Peres calls emergency cabinet meeting

by DAVID MAKOVSKY and BATSHEVA TSUR

TEL AVIV (November 5) - Foreign Minister Shimon Peres called an emergency
meeting of the cabinet at the Defense Ministry after midnight.

Under Basic Law: The Government, the deputy premier assumes the status of
acting premier and the government becomes a transition government.

The cabinet then convenes to officially confirm this.

The president then must, as soon as possible, begins negotiations with the
faction heads before asking one of them to try to put together a new
government.

President Ezer Weizman is expected to wait until after the funeral before
holding negotiations on the setting up of a new government.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

War hero and peacemaker

by Jerusalem Post Staff

JERUSALEM (November 5) - Yitzhak Rabin's career was defined by two historic
moments in history: the victorious campaign he led in the 1967 Six Day War,
and the handshake and the signing of a peace agreement with his biggest
enemy, Yasser Arafat, in 1993, which led to his being awarded the 1994 Nobel
Peace Prize.

"What can we do?" Rabin said. "Peace you don't make with friends, but with
very unsympathetic enemies. I won't try to make the PLO look good. It was an
enemy, it remains an enemy, but negotiations must be with enemies."

Critics accused him of breaking every important promise he had ever made,
while supporters praised him for bold leadership. But his place in history
was assured: No other Israelis, except his Labor Party rival Foreign
Minister Shimon Peres, 72, and President Ezer Weizman, 71, have played so
large a role in modern Israeli public life for so long.

Rabin, the fifth and ninth prime minister of Israel, was a career soldier
and politician who first came to international fame following the Six Day
War. The famous picture of Rabin striding through the Old City with defense
minister Moshe Dayan and Jerusalem commander Mordechai Gur came to symbolize
the military victory and euphoria of that war, and helped launch Rabin on
his political career.

Rabin was born in Jerusalem on March 1, 1922, the son of Nehemia Rubitzov, a
Ukrainian emigrant who came to Palestine in 1918. Rubitzov met his wife when
they both volunteered to defend the Jews of the Old City in 1920.

Rabin graduated from the Kadoorie Agricultural School, where he first
learned about the use of arms from Israel's future deputy prime minister,
Yigal Allon. Inducted into the Hagana by Moshe Dayan, he participated in the
Palmah's operation into Syria in 1941. He was promoted to platoon leader,
and in 1945 was deputy commander of the operation that freed 200 illegal
immigrants from the Atlit detention camp.

In June of the next year, he was arrested along with hundreds of Jewish
leaders by the British, in what came to be known as "Black Saturday," and
was sent to the British detention camp at Rafah for six months.

In October 1947, Rabin was appointed deputy commander of the Palmah, serving
directly under Allon. In the spring of 1948 he commanded the Harel Brigade,
leading them in Operation Nahshon to open the road to besieged Jerusalem,
and liberating the Katamon and Sheikh Jarrah neighborhoods of the city.

Under Allon's command, Rabin took part in the battles for Lod and Ramle, and
as chief of operations on the southern front led Operation Horev, the
counter- offensive which took control of the Negev and Eilat. He was a
member of the delegation that signed the armistice agreements with the Arab
states at Rhodes in 1949. motivated me to remain in the army was that we
must never again get into a war unprepared, as we did in the War of
Independence," Rabin said recently.

Rabin graduated from the Staff College in Britain in 1953. He served as OC
Northern Command from 1956-1959 and as head of Manpower Branch 1959-60. He
was then appointed head of the General Staff Branch, and in 1961 deputy
chief of staff. He became the seventh chief of staff on January 1, 1964.

As the Arabs prepared for war in 1967, the pressures on Rabin mounted. On
May 23, his physician diagnosed a severe sate of exhaustion and put Rabin
under sedation. Two days later Rabin returned to duty, and led the IDF to
victory following the outbreak of war on June 5. He became a national hero,
and was awarded honorary doctorates from Hebrew University, Dropsie College
and Brandeis University.

He retired from the army on January 1, 1968, and was named ambassador to the
United States, where he served for five years. Newsweek named him one of the
top five of 120 ambassadors to the US.

Returning here in March 1973, Rabin was appointed by prime minister Golda
Meir and finance minister Pinhas Sapir to head a fund-raising drive in
Israel to gather voluntary contributions for the War Loan, above the
compulsory sums.

Rabin ran for Knesset in December 1973 as a member of the Alignment. Meir
named him labor minister in March 1974, a month before the government fell.
Rabin was picked to head the party by the Central Committee, and presented
his cabinet to the Knesset on June 3, where it was approved by a one-vote
majority.

As prime minister, Rabin introduced austerity measures following the costly
Yom Kippur War, and coped with increasing terrorist activities. Rabin met
with US president Gerald Ford in June 1975, and agreed to trim Israeli
forces in the Sinai, thereby facilitating Egypt's reopening of the Suez
Canal. The interim agreement with Egypt was signed in September 1975.

Rabin secretly met with King Hussein and other Arab leaders in 1976, but
talks broke down because Hussein refused to accept the return of Judea and
Samaria as long as Israel maintained a defense line along the Jordan River.

His first government fell amid a scandal over an illegal foreign bank
account held by his wife, but Rabin remained powerful enough in the Labor
Party to win the defense minister's job in a coalition formed in 1984.

When the intifada began in 1987, Rabin responded with an "iron fist" policy.
He vowed to fight with "might, power and beatings."

But he also pushed for peace with Palestinians, drafting plans put forward
by hardline Likud prime minister Yitzhak Shamir. Their coalition crumbled in
1990 when Shamir refused to go the distance.

In 1992 Rabin came back to smash Shamir, putting former generals in the
front line of a tough campaign that portrayed Labor as the party of both
peace and security.

Entering office, Rabin offered to meet his Arab leaders in their capitals
and froze much construction in the Jewish settlements in the territories.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EDITORIAL: A black day for the whole Jewish nation

(November 5) - The shock is universal. No Israeli, no Jew, no decent human
being anywhere can help being shaken to the core, shattered to the depth of
his and her soul by the news of the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak
Rabin.

Nothing, absolutely nothing, is a greater blow to the life of the Jewish
nation than fraternal violence, and nothing makes such violence more
threatening to the nation's future than the assassination of the head of
government.

No nation has suffered more from what is known in Hebrew as "fraternal
hatred" or "hatred without cause." In Jewish tradition, such hatred is
blamed for the destruction of the Second Temple. Had such hatred not
splintered the nation at crucial junctures of its existence, the history of
the Jewish people would have been different.

If the Jewish nation is again unlucky, Rabin's death last night from an
assassin's bullet may well be remembered as a blow from which Israel has not
recovered.

But if the nation is more fortunate than in the past and reason prevails,
the assassination will serve as a reminder that internal violence is the
most dangerous enemy, most incurable scourge, and most irredeemable national
disaster.

It would be neither realistic nor relevant to ask for national unity on
political issues at this point. But all decent men and women in this country
must unite in making violence by Jews against Jews utterly and eternally
unacceptable. Nothing less than the nation's fate depends on it.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Assassin: God told me to kill Rabin

by RAINE MARCUS and HERB KEINON

JERUSALEM (November 5) - The assassin, Yigal Amir, told investigators that
he acted alone, did not belong to any extremist organization, and had
"received instructions from God to kill Prime Minister Rabin," police said
last night.

Police said he had no criminal record, and was known to be a supporter of
right-wing politics, but did not belong to an extremist organization.

At least one person who knew Amir told Israel Radio last night that he "was
a wonderful person."

"I met the person, he was wonderful person," said Karnei Shomron resident
Avner Goldshmidt. "I don't understand how he could do something like this.
He worked with us at Ma'aleh Yisrael. I don't believe it, I am stunned."

Ma'aleh Yisrael is the name of an abandoned neighborhood near the settlement
of Barkan, where a number of Jews moved in over the summer in an anti-
government protest. Goldshmidt said he recognized Amir from television
footage of him being led away by police.

Goldshmidt said he last saw Amir at an anti-government demonstration in
Jerusalem two weeks ago. At that demonstration, Goldshmidt said, Amir acted
no different than anyone else.

"We cannot react, we are in shock and great pain," a cousin of Amir's told
Itim last night. "Understand, we have to see to his father Shlomo's health.
Please leave us alone," she said.

Inspector-General Assaf Hefetz, Tel Aviv police chief Cmdr. Gabi Last and
other police brass arrived at Kikar Malchei Yisrael at 10:45 last night
after visiting Ichilov Hospital.

"We are all in panic. Something like this has never happened before. Heads
may roll here," a police source said. "Police cannot absolve themselves of
responsibility, since there were around 700 policemen and Border Police
guarding the event."

Police will likely be subjected to an inquiry commission into how a lone
gunman managed to get close enough to Rabin to shoot him at close range,
reportedly within two meters from his security entourage.

Police Minister Moshe Shahal, Hefetz, police brass from all over the country
and GSS officers arrived at Hayarkon police station for an emergency meeting
which lasted for around an hour. Afterwards they refused to comment, saying
they were on their way to another emergency meeting at Defense Ministry
headquarters in Tel Aviv .

Meanwhile, police nationwide sent reinforcements onto the streets to
maintain law and order in case of disturbances or rioting.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Massive rally turns joy to tragedy

by MICHAL YUDELMAN

TEL AVIV (November 5) - The assassin's shots that rang out in Kikar Malchei
Yisrael last night switched a massive, joyful rally for peace into the
national nightmare that many rally participants have been warning about.

The assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was the shocking end to a
gathering of some 100,000 banner-waving government supporters that had the
atmosphere of a sing-along party rather than a political rally.

Organizers said it was the biggest rally ever seen in Tel Aviv's great
square. The rally slogan was "Peace yes, violence no."

An elated Rabin had told the crowd that the huge attendance "proves the
majority of the people really want peace, and is willing to take a risk for
peace. I always believed that most of the nation truly wants peace and
opposes violence.

"Violence undermines democracy and must be denounced and isolated," he
added.

Rabin, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and cabinet ministers were joined by
the ambassadors of Egypt, Jordan and Morocco, Knesset Speaker Shevah Weiss,
a dozen Druse elders from the Galilee, MKs and dignitaries near the podium,
on the patio overlooking the municipal square.

Rabin thanked the president of Egypt and the kings of Jordan and Morocco
"who are expressing here their partnership with us in our desire for peace."

Police sources estimated the huge crowd at 120,000 to 150,000, while MKs Ran
Cohen and Haim Oron swore it was bigger than the demonstration protesting
the Sabra and Shatila massacre, known as "the demonstration of 400,000,"
also held in the square. Shlomo Lahat, the former Tel Aviv mayor and one of
the rally's organizers, said a rally of such magnitude was never seen in Tel
Aviv's municipal square.

More than 700 policemen safeguarded the square, in which unprecedented
security precautions were in effect. Police closed off Ibn Gvirol and all
the surrounding streets, which were filled with the crowd spilling over from
the square.

However, the entire event was orderly and took place in an atmosphere of
elation and good spirits that gave hundreds of police and border policemen
little to do until the very end.

A full hour before the rally was to begin, thousands of Labor Young Guard,
Peace Now and Meretz activists began flooding the area, with placards
including: "A strong nation makes peace," "Rabin, with you to peace,"
"Students for Peace," "The People has decided for peace," and others. Groups
of Russian immigrants were also prominent in the crowd.

Peres, who rose to speak first, was received with tremendous applause.

"The Likud says the people do not support peace. Let it come here and see
where the people are and what it thinks of peace," he said to the roar of
the crowd. "This is not a rally in support of the government, but for peace.
This is a government which was not afraid to make peace and will not be
afraid to continue it. This is a government which decided that it is better
to win in peace than in war."

As Peres finished speaking, Rabin rose towards him and the two --
traditional arch-rivals -- amazed the audience when they embraced and stood
gazing down at the crowd with open satisfaction.

Rabin opened by thanking everyone "who came to make a stand here against
violence and in support of peace. This government, which I have the
privilege to head together with my colleague Peres, has decided to give
peace a chance.

"I have been a military man for 27 years, I fought as long as there was no
chance for peace. I believe there is such a chance now, a great chance, and
we must take advantage of it, for the sake of those who are here and all
those who are not."

Asked whether this was the first time they had embraced, Rabin said "I don't
remember, but it doesn't matter. We are partners in an historic process.
"Things change, you see, even in our system. The whole peace process is
amazing," he said.

Communications Minister Shulamit Aloni said she was most impressed by the
crowd's calm behavior and that so many came to express their support for
peace. She suggested "this is a reaction to the violent trend we had been
witnessing."

Jordanian Ambassador Marwan Muashar said he brought "a message on behalf of
King Hussein in praise of peace." In answer to a question, he said,
"supporting a peace rally is not an intervention in internal politics, but
an act which will benefit all the Israeli people."

The country's best performing artists attended the rally, including Yaffa
Yarkoni, Miri Aloni, Ahinoam Nini, Aviv Gefen and many others.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Condolences pour in from world leaders

by Liat Collins, Sarah Honig, Herb Keinon, Jon Immanuel, and agencies.

JERUSALEM (November 5) - President Ezer Weizman issued a statement at
midnight saying: "The president of the state bows his head in deepest grief
at the falling of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in the battle for peace."

Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat said he was "very shocked" and
sent his condolences to the Israeli people.

"I am very sad and very shocked by this terrible crime, against a great
Israeli leader and an architect of peace," Arafat told reporters.

"In the name of the Palestinian people, I send my condolences to Mrs. Rabin,
her family, the Israeli government and the entire Israeli people," he said.
"I hope we will succeed in overcoming this tragedy, which is a blow to the
peace process."

Jordan also condemned the assassination.

"Any assassination, especially of people who work for peace, is a very
wicked act," said former Jordanian Prime Minister Abdul-Salam Majali, who
worked closely with Rabin until the two countries signed a peace treaty a
year ago. "Without doubt, we condemn the assassination."

At the White House, President Bill Clinton was reported to be "extremely
saddened" by the assassination, according to television reports. Clinton was
scheduled to issue a public statement late last night.

US Secretary of State Warren Christopher was said to be "shocked and
saddened" by the attack on the prime minister, CNN reported.

Here, opposition leaders expressed their shock and sadness at the
assassination.

Likud leader Binyamin Netanayhu last night called the assassination "one of
the worst tragedies in the history of the state. Something so terrible has
happened that the mind refuses to believe and the heart weeps. I am shocked
to the core. We have lost one of the country's great leaders and we must
vomit out form amongst us those who do not abide by one of the most basic
rules of society -- Thou shalt not kill."

But some in the government blamed the Likud for Rabin's assassination,
without saying so outright -- at least for now.

"There may have been one assassin but many inciters; Rabin fell victim to
incitement and hate," said Environment Minister Yossi Sarid. "There were
many warnings and what we warned of indeed happened.

"Members of this government were made legitimate political prey until
someone took this seriously and aimed at the target others had posted for
him...This country is not the same and will not be the same again; what once
was possible will no longer be possible again."

Communications Minister Shulamit Aloni maintained that "these are the rotten
fruit of the right's incitement. We must forge ahead with peace despite the
insanity of the right." walked to nearby Ichilov Hospital, where Rabin had
been rushed, hoisted makeshift placards reading: "Bibi, Rabin's blood is on
your hands."

Labor Faction Chairman MK Ra'anan Cohen called the assassination, "a sad day
for Israel, the world and peace. We won't let one act of craziness harm the
peace process."

Likud MK Ze'ev Begin expressed "shock and revulsion at the mad attack on
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin."

National Religious Party Leader MK Zevulun Hammer called the assassination
attempt "an act of craziness and a despicable crime that will not be
forgiven. It's impossible to accept this kind of act in Israel.

"I call on all educators, leaders, opinion makers and politicians to not
only express their shock but to act and take responsibility for ensuring
that something like this never happens again, to stop the downwards spiral
of violence," Hammer said.

But along with the opposition's expressions of condemnation and grief, there
was near panic of a repeat of the 1930s scenario, in which the entire
Revisionist movement was blamed for the murder of Haim Arlosoroff.

"This time around, the national camp might find itself blamed and reviled.
The left will seize on this and turn its full venom upon us to squeeze
political advantage from a crime for which we are not responsible and which
we condemn sincerely. This is a tragedy of unimagined proportions for us,"
an emotional former Likud minister told The Jerusalem Post last night.

Aharon Domb, spokesman for the Council of Jewish Settlements in Judea,
Samaria, and Gaza, expressed profound shock at the assassination. The
council later issued a statement saying it was "pained by the murder of our
prime minister." It called on the authorities to "deal harshly with the
assassin," and called for national unity.

The Gaza Coast Regional Council also issued a statement saying they are
"stunned" by the assassination.

Palestinian leaders also denounced the attack. Marwan Kanafani, the
spokesman for Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, said, "this is
devastating news. The president [Arafat] is in constant contact with
Israeli officials.

"It was meant to derail the peace process. Those who committed it must be
enemies of peace. The prime minister was a great leader. We had our
differences but he was man who believed in peace in his own way and we must
respect that."

Dr. Mahmoud Zahar, a Hamas leader in Gaza, said "This is the result of the
incitement that always came from the extreme right in Israel against
Palestinians and now it has been turned against the other side. This is the
fruit of it."

Nafez Azzam, an Islamic Jihad leader in Gaza, said "There is a sura
[chapter] in the Koran which says you think the Jews are all one but they
are divided. The sura is very true."

Reports from Gaza said that in Deir el-Balah some youths ran into the
streets shouting Allahu Akhbar ("God is great").

Rabbi had placed curse on Rabin -report
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

(c) Copyright 1995 Nando.net

Reuters

JERUSALEM - A Jewish mystic opposed to Israel's giving up West Bank land for
peace placed a curse on Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin a month ago, appealing
to the angels to kill him by this week.

The Jerusalem Report magazine said in its latest edition published last week
that a Jerusalem rabbi, who declined to give his name, stood outside Rabin's
house on the eve of Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year.

It said the rabbi, who identified himself as a member of the anti-Arab Kach
movement, cursed Rabin with a pulsa denura -- Aramaic for "lashes of fire"
-- for Rabin's "heretical" policies.

"And on him, Yitzhak son of Rosa, known as Rabin, we have permission...to
demand from the angels of destruction that they take a sword to this wicked
man...to kill him...for handing over the Land of Israel to our enemies, the
sons of Ishmael."

The rabbi said the curse generally works within 30 days. That put the expiry
date -- for Rabin or the curse -- in early November, the magazine said.

Israeli right-wingers who have demonstrated against Rabin's peace policies
view the West Bank as part of the Land of Israel given the Jews by God in
the Bible.

     The Song of Peace

     Boston Globe , 11/06

     Before he was gunned down at a rally in Tel Aviv Saturday night, Prime
     Minister Yitzhak Rabin joined a huge crowd in singing The Song of
     Peace. The song, a hit in the 1970s that is one of Israel's most
     popular melodies, was being sung by schoolchildren in the country
     yesterday.

	[It was reported by Shimon Peres that the bullet pierced a leaflet
	 in Rabin's pocket on which this song was printed.  The popularity
	 of this grim song escapes me.  --jrc]

     Let the sun rise
     And give the morning light,
     The purest prayer
     Will not bring us back

     He whose candle was snuffed out
     And was buried in the dust
     A better cry won't wake him
     Won't bring him back

     Nobody will return us
     From the dead dark pit.
     Here neither the victory cheer
     Nor songs of praise will help

     So, sing only a song for peace
     Do not whisper a prayer
     Better sing a song for peace
     With a strong shout.

     Let the sun penetrate
     Through the flowers
     Don't look backward
     Leave those who departed

     Lift your eyes with hope
     Not through rifle sights
     Sing a song for love
     And not for wars

     Don't say the day will come
     Bring the day because it is not a dream
     And within all the city's squares
     Cheer only peace

     This story ran on page 1 of the Boston Globe on 11/06.

The Peace-Loving Bishop, by Andrew Carey

Lasting impressions for any foreigner leaving Israel are the queues at
Ben Gurion.  The security checks are bad enough for a British citizen,
but if your name is Hussain rather than Weizman they must be tortuous
and intimidating.

Archdeacon Riah Abu el-Assal of Nazareth, Bishop-elect of Jerusalem, tells
many stories about his confrontations with airport security.  The best is
this: "When they asked whether I was carrying any weapons, the rebel in
me awoke.  `Yes' I said.

"I was ordered to walk a few steps away and, at what they thought was a
safe distance, they directed me to take out this `weapon' -- slowly.  I
bent to my case, opened it slowly and removed my Bible, which I held up
for them to see.

"It is the only weapon I have ever carried; the only one I have ever
needed," he said.

My own frustration at leaving Israel is nothing to what he and other
Israeli citizens -- those for whom the only reason for suspicion is
that they are Arabs as well -- feel.  But watching young men and women
throwing their prepared questions at foreigners, while a queue of Jewish
Israelis were nodded through, jarred.

"Have you been to Israel before?  Why did you come?  Did anyone give you
anything to take out of the country?  What have you done each day in
Israel?.....Each day?".  And so on, until I unpacked my luggage on an
inadequate desk and a paper written by Canon Riah in 1987 slipped into
view entitled "Torture of Child Prisoners Under Military Occupation."
I knew I was in for the third degree.

"You interviewed this priest?  Why did you come all the way to Israel
to do that?  What does he speak about when he goes to the West?"

My reply was simple: "He is an Israeli citizen and also an Arab Christian.
He has always believed in peace between Jew and Arab and has worked to
make that possible.  He has also struggled for the rights of Israeli
citizens who are Arabs."

It is less than two weeks since the last Hamas suicide bomber struck on
a crowded bus, and you cannot blame the Israeli government for these
measures.  For all of its short reconstituted history, Israel has been
surrounded by hostile powers which have questioned its very existence.
Now it is on the slow, fragile route to peace in the Middle East -- a
prospect welcomed by all but the fanatics on both sides of the divide.

Archdeacon Riah's eyes glow with pleasure as he talks about peace.  He
shares the new confidence that his people feel now that Yassar Arafat
leads the Palestinians in the peace process and now that the agreements
are being hammered out -- slowly but surely.

Recently, the issue of `Water Rights' was almost settled.  For the Arabs
in the West Bank and Gaza, the situation will improve, but for Arab
citizens of Israel their water is often in short supply.

Archdeacon Riah will in a few years' time have to leave Nazareth, his
birth-place, and the community in which he is held in such high regard.
In Nazareth he is a proud patriarch, taking pleasure in the increasing
accomplisments of his people.  He spends much of his life writing letters
in support of his people -- Muslim or Christian.  He takes a particular
interest in education.  The Anglican Church has the best school in the
town.

But he is also trying to raise the status of Arab Israelis through further
education.  He showed me a file of letters he had written to gain entrance
and grants for Arab young people to universities throughout the world.
Poorer families often get funded by 100 per cent, as a result of his
tireless letter writing.

At Christ Church, Nazareth, I meet Yusuf, who is studying International
Law in London.  With typical kindness, Yusuf offers to take me to the
airport.  His funding, gained by Archdeacon Riah's efforts, is beginning
to run out and he needs to find other sources.  Yusuf speaks with fierce
pride about Archdeacon Riah.  He tells a story of how the Israeli
authorities were looking at ways of deporting the crusading priest.
Margaret Thatcher personally intervened, he says with a smile.

[Anglican World, Michaelmas 1995]

Archdeacon Riah will soon be ordained Bishop-Coadjutor of the Diocese of
Jerusalem, and will succeed Bishop Samir Kafity upon his retirement in 1998.
The Diocese of Jerusalem includes Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jerusalem,
The West Bank, and Gaza.  The diocese has 28 parishes with 8500 communicants,
95% of whom are Arab Christians.  It operates 13 schools, 1 seminary, 5
hostels, 2 orphanages (in Ramallah), 3 institutes for the deaf, 2 major
hospitals (in Gaza and Nablus), 1 nursing school, 1 vocational school (in
Amman), 1 youth ministry center, 1 home for the elderly, and 1 home for
mentally impaired children.

The Bishop of Jerusalem also serves as President Bishop of the Episcopal
Church of Jerusalem and The Middle East, which includes three other dioceses:
Iran, Cyprus and the Gulf, and Egypt and North Africa.

/john

     Religious `obligation' is claim in court

     By Barton Gellman, Washington Post , 11/07

     JERUSALEM - Yigal Amir, a 25-year-old law student, declared in a
     raucous court hearing yesterday that he gunned down Prime Minister
     Yitzhak Rabin as an obligation under religious law.

     ``I acted alone,'' he said, ``but maybe with God.''

     Asked by Tel Aviv magistrate Dan Arbel whether he was acquainted with
     the Ten Commandments, Amir replied scornfully, ``If this is what you
     know of the Bible, it is very sad.''

     Speaking loudly and rapidly over angry interjections by Israeli
     reporters, Amir gave a brief self-portrait of a man infused with
     certitude that Rabin's government had taken a divinely forbidden path
     in relinquishing holy Jewish land. That view is not uncommon on the
     Israeli national religious right.

     ``I did not commit the act to stop the peace process, because there is
     no such thing,'' Amir said. ``It is a process of war, and the murder
     was my obligation according to `halacha.'''

     Very few religious authorities, even on the hard political right, agree
     with that interpretation of religious law. Former Chief Rabbi Avraham
     Shapirasaid yesterday that the assassin was a murderer without
     conscience or Jewish morality.

     Yesterday's hearing in Tel Aviv covered only a police request to extend
     Amir's remand in custody for 15 days while murder charges are prepared.
     The court granted the request. Amir faces a maximum sentence of life in
     prison.

     Police told the magistrate that they wished to investigate whether Amir
     received assistance from an extremist group. Published interviews here
     have suggested possible links to three groups, including a little-known
     group called Eyal.

     The leader of Eyal, Avishai Raviv, denied Saturday that Amir was a
     member of his group, but said ``we knew him through our activity.''
     Yesterday, Raviv publicly praised Amir and refused to condemn the
     assassination.

     ``We admire this lad for his sincerity, for standing behind his
     words,'' Raviv told Israeli Army Radio. Rabin, he added, ``is
     responsible for the murder of hundreds of Jews and is another victim of
     peace.''

     Reporters, camera crews and bystanders pushed and shouted at Amir as he
     entered the courtroom yesterday, clad in the same jeans, blue T-shirt
     and black skullcap in which he shot the 73-year-old prime minister
     twice Saturday night.

     Several new details emerged yesterday on the shooting that struck down
     Rabin as he prepared to leave a joyful rally for peace. The murder
     weapon was a 9mm Beretta semiautomatic pistol with custom ammunition,
     and police now say that two shots - not three - struck Rabin. The third
     round wounded one of his bodyguards.

     Amir, a former Israeli army paratrooper and private security guard,
     apparently managed to approach Rabin as he walked toward his official
     car in Tel Aviv's Kings of Israel Square because the prime minister's
     bodyguards mistook him for a limousine driver.

     Rabin was shot at a rally in Tel Aviv at 9:30 p.m. (2:30 EST). Menachem
     Damati, Rabin's chauffeur, said that Rabin was conscious as his
     security detail pushed him into his car for the brief ride to a
     hospital.

     ```I hurt, but not terribly,''' were Rabin's last words, Damati said.
     He arrived at the hospital without a pulse, and efforts to resuscitate
     him over 90 minutes were unsuccessful.

     The court yesterday also extended police authority to hold Hagai Amir,
     the accused assassin's brother, on suspicion that he aided in the deed.

     Hagai Amir told Arbel, the magistrate, that he had modified 20 rounds
     of 9mm ammunition to increase their lethality and had given the
     ammunition to his brother. Citing police sources, Israel Radio reported
     that one of the bullets removed from Rabin's body had been so modified.

     This story ran on page 3 of the Boston Globe on 11/07.

     Report: Blind Cleric Says Allah Sent a Jew to Kill Rabin

     Associated Press, 11/11

     NEW YORK (AP) - Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman told the Daily News that "Allah
     sent a Jew" to kill Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

     ``Muslims were not able to get him killed for what he did, due to
     strict security,'' said Abdel-Rahman. ``Allah (the Arabic name for God)
     sent a Jew to do that.''

     Abdel-Rahman, 57, a blind Egyptian cleric, spoke with the News from the
     Springfield, Mo., federal prison where he is awaiting sentencing for
     leading a group of Muslim extremists who planned a wave of terror in
     the United States.

     He and nine others were convicted Oct. 2 of seditious conspiracy.
     Prosecutors said the planned attacks included the United Nations, FBI
     headquarters, two tunnels and a bridge.

     Abdel-Rahman also denounced Arab leaders for attending Rabin's funeral
     and burial in Jerusalem.

     He suggested that Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak should share Rabin's
     fate for the praise he heaped on the Israeli leader at the funeral a
     week ago.

     ``The Koran says, if you take them as allies, then you are like them. I
     ask the Almighty to put them together,'' Abdel-Rahman said.

     Many Islamic militants continue to object to Palestinian recognition of
     Israel, in hopes of eventually supplanting the Jewish state with their
     own religious nation.

     Abdel-Rahman faces a maximum life in prison when he is sentenced in
     January.

     AP-DS-11-11-95 2302EST

Vatican says ban on women priests is forever
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

VATICAN CITY (Nov 19, 1995 - From wire services) - In a drastic move, the
Vatican has attempted to slam shut the debate over women priests by
declaring that the ban on their ordination is an infallible part of
Catholic doctrine that cannot be disputed or changed.

Saturday the Vatican released a ruling that Church sources said would make
it absolutely impossible for a future pope to reverse the official Catholic
policy against women priests.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican body that
oversees doctrinal issues, issued a statement at the pope's request in an
attempt to clear up lingering doubts about the definitive nature of his 1994
letter on women priests.

The Congregation said Catholics should see the 1994 letter as applying
"always, everywhere and to all faithful" and declared it an unquestionable
part of the "deposit of faith."

"This doctrine calls for a definitive assent because, founded on the word of
God, written and constantly preserved and applied in the tradition of the
Church from the beginning, it has been proposed infallibly by the ordinary
and universal magisterium (Church teaching authority)," the statement said.

The Vatican observed that male ordination should not be seen as
discriminatory against women. "The Church teaches as a fundamental truth:
the equality of men and women," the Vatican said.  "The priesthood is a
service and not a position of power and privilege over others," the note
continued. Those who see it as discriminatory are "profoundly mistaken."

The method chosen to stress the definitive nature of the ban on women
priests stopped just short of the most solemn form of declaring something
infallible -- when the pope does it himself, speaking "ex cathedra" (from
the throne).

A Vatican spokesman explained that technically the entire 1994 papal
document was not being declared infallible but the ban on women priests
contained in the same document was declared an infallible part of Church
teaching and tradition.

The Vatican says the Church does not have the authority to allow women to
become priests because Christ, in a free and sovereign way, chose only men
as his apostles. The Church asserts Christ was reflecting divine and not
human will.

Church leaders have rejected assertions by women's groups who say that by
choosing only men Christ was merely acting in accordance with the social
norms of his times.

In the 1994 document the pope solemnly wrote:

"I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly
ordination on women and that this judgement is to be definitively held by
all the Church's faithful."

That document followed the ordination of women priests in the Church of
England, a move that brought relations with Rome to their lowest point in
centuries.

First Parting of Red Sea Occurred 34 Million Years Ago

By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - When Moses parted the Red Sea he likely didn't realize the
land where he stood had itself separated millions of years earlier to make
way for the salty waters.

Geologists researching the still growing rift that created the long, narrow
sea believe it can teach them about the processes that helped form the
Atlantic and Pacific oceans hundreds of millions of years earlier.

Geologists Gomaa Omar of the University of Pennsylvania and Michael Steckler
of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory conclude in this week's edition of
the journal Science that the Earth's crust separated like the rigid leaves
of a table 34 million years ago to create the opening for the Red Sea.

Their findings contradict the previous theory that the sea opened gradually
- more or less like a zipper - from south to north.

Instead, they believe continental movement, combined with volcanism, began a
long process of separating Africa and Arabia. That process still is going
on, as shown by the earthquake that struck the region Wednesday.

When Moses parted the Red Sea 3,300 years ago "he didn't realize it was
parted before, 34 million years earlier," Omar said in a telephone
interview.

The partings, of course, were vastly different.

Moses led the Jews through an opening in the water caused either by divine
intervention, winds, a great wave or some other phenomenon, depending on
whom one chooses to believe.

The parting analyzed by Omar and Steckler was a slow, massive separation of
the land that created the opening for the sea itself.

"There are a lot of things happening now we don't even notice. The Red Sea
is still opening, but we don't notice...Eventually it will be an ocean,"
said Omar.

Still widening at about one-half inch per year, the rift is the youngest
region of continental breakup on the planet, allowing the geologists to
learn about processes that occurred in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans
hundreds of millions of years earlier, he explained.

Scientists had thought that the Red Sea opened gradually from south to north
because the process of developing oceanic crust on the sea floor followed
that pattern, occurring about 5 million years ago, Omar said.

But Omar and Steckler dispute that, based on studies called "apatite fission
tracking." Apatite is a common mineral in the molten rocks that rose through
the cracks in the Earth. It contains small amounts of uranium 238 that
change into other types of uranium at a constant rate, leaving a trace in
the structure of the rock crystals, he said.

The concentration of these tracks "tells when the mountain on both sides of
Red Sea came up," Omar explained. That led to their conclusion that the
initial breakup occurred all along the sea at about the same. Omar
cautioned, however, that to a geologist, the phrase "at the same time,"
means over the span of 1 million to 2 million years.

Black, white churches unite in Mississippi
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

(c) 1995 Copyright Nando.net
(c) 1995 The Boston Globe

OXFORD, Miss. (Nov 26, 1995 - 01:57 EST) -- When the Revs. Duncan Gray 3d
and Leroy Wadlington were boys and Oxford was the setting for an epic
integration conflict at the University of Mississippi, they attended
separate, segregated schools and were divided by a racial gulf in the little
college town.

"I didn't know him, and he didn't know me," Rev. Wadlington said.

Both men went on to become clergymen here, and lately they have become good
friends as they have drawn their congregations together in an experiment
fulfilling Martin Luther King's dream, enunciated on the steps of the
Lincoln Memorial in 1963 -- a year after the riot at Ole Miss -- "that one
day ... sons of former slaves and sons of former slave-owners will be able
to sit down together at the table of brotherhood."

For the past three years, the white, relatively affluent St. Peter's
Episcopal Church, where Father Gray serves as priest, and Rev. Wadlington's
Second Missionary Baptist Church have been sponsoring pulpit swaps, joint
picnics and discussion groups to promote racial understanding.

The project, Father Gray said, was triggered by a simple question from a
student journalist working on a story to mark the 30th anniversary of the
integration of Ole Miss, the widely used name for the university. The
Episcopal priest was interviewed because his father, who once led St.
Peter's, had been one of the few local voices for peace and reason in 1962.

"When the student asked me: 'What was it like in the black community in
those days?' I had to say I didn't know," Father Gray said in an interview
the other day in St. Peter's annex off Oxford's town square. This inability
was dramatized a few weeks later, he said, when he attended a performance
called "The Eyes of Black Folk," which looked at history from an
African-American perspective.

Father Gray recognized that a "great cultural blind" existed, so he
telephoned Rev. Wadlington, whom he knew slightly. "As I talked with Leroy,
I realized that he was what had been happening in the black community. He
was a year younger than me, and he came from a hard-working, church-going
family."

Rev. Wadlington continued the narrative in his office at Second Baptist, a
block from St. Peter's: "I related to Duncan how my family was living out on
Highway 6" in 1962, when thousands of federal troops were sent to put down
an insurrection by segregationists.

"It was a frightening time," Rev. Wadlington said. "Whites would ride by,
heckling us, and one night the window of our house was shot out. There was a
lot of fear and uncertainty back then, and as a child, I endured a lot --
the rebel flags, the racial slurs -- and my skin got thick."

Even though segregation officially ended in Mississippi that year, Rev.
Wadlington continued to attend Central High School, an all-black facility.
Father Gray went to all-white University High School.

Over the years, Ole Miss opened its doors to blacks and the Oxford schools
integrated, but there was little social interaction between the races. Even
though he was a liberal, Father Gray said, "I was, like most Mississippians,
predisposed to a dual culture." When he was unable to answer the question
about the black community, he said he realized "God was trying to tell me
something."

As a first step, he and Rev. Wadlington agreed that their congregations
would sponsor a local performance of "The Eyes of Black Folks." Then they
decided to set aside a Sunday when Father Gray would speak at Second Baptist
and Rev. Wadlington would take the pulpit at St. Peter's. The two
congregations were welcomed to worship at each other's services.

There were a few reservations, the clergymen said, that went beyond race.
Second Baptist is a typical black Protestant church, full of passion and
music and vocal exchanges between pastor and congregation, while St. Peter's
maintains a staid liturgy. "One of the things that some of our people were
not ready for was real wine at Communion," Rev. Wadlington said, laughing at
the recollection.

Rev. Wadlington said he felt at home when several white members of St.
Peter's punctuated his remarks with shouts of "Amen!"

Father Gray said he tried to overcome the racial barrier by emphasizing
common ground as Christians. "It was important to say, as Christians, that
what unites us is greater than what divides us."

When he pointed out during his first sermon at Second Baptist that the
county jail -- "a metaphor of human failing" -- was the only physical
structure that stood between the two churches, Father Gray said he got a
"loud and emotional" response.

Following the success of the pulpit swaps, the congregations held a picnic
at a city park, an event that would have been taboo 30 years ago.

The churches have been unable to trade choirs for a simple reason that
reflects the style of the two denominations. Although St. Peter's has more
than 500 communicants, its sanctuary has only 13 seats for a choir. The
smallest of several choirs at Second Baptist has 40 members.

But the biggest obstacle was encountered when the clergymen encouraged
small, biracial groups to discuss black-white issues in the privacy of their
homes.

Father Gray said there was resistance from Second Baptist, which has 425
members. "There was some shyness, which may have been a feeling that 'my
home is not nice enough,"' he said. "But on another level, blacks have
survived by keeping certain things off-limits. They have entered white
society as maids or bartenders with some degree of ease; but after work,
they go back to the security of their own society."

Rev. Wadlington agreed with Father Gray's assessment. "For the most part,
black people are used to being in white homes. We've moved in and out of the
white community. We've always had a sense of how that community thought. Our
congregation did have reservations about opening their homes. But I think
our people are very comfortable now."

The latest joint project involves a compilation of the history of the two
churches. It will show that St. Peter's, which was founded before the Civil
War, counted slaveholders in its midst while Second Baptist was built by
former slaves who had once been confined to the balcony of the white First
Baptist Church.

More than a century later, blacks and whites are worshipping under the same
roof again, in equitable circumstances. "Where do we go from here? Who
knows?" Father Gray said. "One of the nice things is that normalcy is
beginning to set in."

Court refuses to review dispute over school paper on Christ
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

(c) 1995 Copyright Nando.net
(c) 1995 Associated Press

WASHINGTON (Nov 27, 1995 - 11:14 EST) -- A Tennessee girl who received a
grade of zero for doing her ninth-grade English research paper on the life
of Jesus Christ lost a Supreme Court appeal today.

The justices, without comment, turned away Brittney Kaye Settle's argument
that her teacher's decision to disallow a paper on Jesus violated her
free-speech rights.

Settle's 1991 lawsuit had been thrown out by a federal judge, and the 6th
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal last May.

Settle, who now is out of high school, was attending a junior high school in
Dickson, Tenn., in 1991 when teacher Dana Ramsey assigned the ninth-grade
English class the task of choosing a topic and writing a short research
paper.

When Settle submitted an outline for a paper entitled "The Life of Jesus
Christ," Ramsey told her to choose another topic.

When Settle persisted and handed in her paper on that topic, she received a
grade of zero.

Settle sued for damages and to have the zero removed from her academic
record.

During the litigation, Ramsey explained that she refused to allow Settle to
write about Jesus for several reasons. She said she knew Settle had a strong
personal belief in Christianity that would make it difficult for her to
write a dispassionate research paper.

And she said grading such a paper might present problems because remarks
about grammar or organization might be misinterpreted as criticism of
Settle's religious beliefs.

Ramsey also said Settle already knew much about the subject, and that part
of the assignment's purpose was to have the students research a topic
unfamiliar to them.

In its decision, the 6th Circuit court noted that Settle's personal
expression was not at issue because the dispute involved part of the
school's curriculum.

The appeals court relied on a 1988 Supreme Court decision that gave
officials broad control over student speech in school-sponsored activities
such as student newspapers "so long as their actions are reasonably related
to legitimate pedagogical concerns."

The appeals court added: "Teachers therefore must be given broad discretion
to give grades and conduct class discussion based on the content of speech.
Learning is more vital in the classroom than free speech."

"This case is about viewpoint discrimination," Settle's lawyers argued in
seeking high court review.

They said the appeals court's ruling "upholds viewpoint-based censorship of
student expression involving particular religious traditions ... on the
theory that such censorship lies within the discretion of school officials."

The case is Settle vs. Dickson County, 95-597.

Judge says graduation singing did not violate injunction
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

(c) 1995 Copyright Nando.net
(c) 1995 Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY (Nov 28, 1995 - 10:50 EST) -- High school officials did
everything they could to prevent the singing of a religious song that an
appeals court had barred from their graduation ceremony, a federal judge
said Monday.

U.S. District Court Judge J. Thomas Greene, reviewing the case for the 10th
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, recommended it dismiss a contempt of court
petition by Rachel Bauchman and her parents.

Bauchman, a member of West High School's a cappella choir, sought to have
the songs "Friends" and "The Lord Bless and Keep You" removed from the
graduation program. She claimed the songs' references to deity violated her
religious beliefs. She is Jewish.

The appeals court granted the injunction, and the choir director substituted
two secular songs on the revised program. But during the June 7 commencement
ceremony, a graduating senior led students and the audience in an impromptu
singing of "Friends."

"The situation was out of control in the sense that the audience could not
have been stopped by reasonable actions of defendants from singing the
song," Greene said.

Greene determined that the injunction did not apply to the audience, former
or present students or individual members of the choir, many of whom joined
in the singing.

He also said school officials did not violate the appellate court injunction
because they took firm steps to try to stop the singing. A videotape showed
the principal urging students not to sing the song.

The judge recommended that the Bauchmans not be awarded damages, attorney
fees or court costs.

Rachel Bauchman's father, Eric, referred all questions to attorney Lisa
Thurau of the National Committee for Public Education and Religious Liberty
in New York. Thurau had no immediate comment.

Greene also ordered a Dec. 21 hearing to decide whether to permit the
Bauchmans to amend a lawsuit that was dismissed on Sept. 12. That suit
argued that religious music in general violated constitutional rights
mandating the separation of church and state.

The Bauchmans are seeking to amend the lawsuit to add complaints that the
choir director proselytized religion with the choir's performance of
devotional music at churches.

Reform Jews vote to tell interfaith parents to choose one for kids
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

(c) 1995 Copyright Nando.net
(c) 1995 Associated Press

ATLANTA (Dec 1, 1995 - 18:32 EST) -- The governing body of American Reform
Judaism voted Friday to encourage synagogues to bar youngsters from Hebrew
school if their parents also give them schooling in another religion.

The Union of American Hebrew Congregations recommended in a non-binding
resolution that parents in mixed faith marriages choose a religion for their
children before sending them off for religious education.

The majority vote by a show of hands of 3,000 delegates at the
organization's biennial convention came after several days of wrangling.

"We want to offer opportunities to be educated about Judaism, but when the
time comes for parents to decide on religious education, at that point we
ask them to choose," said the group's president-elect, Rabbi Eric Yoffie.

Supporters of the resolution said children get confused when they are
schooled in both Judaism and another religion.

"We can't raise Jewish-Christian children. We raise Jewish children," said
Dru Greenwood, outreach director for the organization. "(Interfaith
families) are welcome to take part in other ways."

Reform Judaism has a tradition of reaching out to interfaith couples. Years
ago, it approved a controversial policy recognizing that Jewish fathers, as
well as mothers, pass on Jewish heritage.

About half of all Jewish couples today marry outside their faith. Among
interfaith couples who have children, 28 percent raise their children
Jewish, 31 percent with no religion, 21 percent in a religion other than
Judaism and 20 percent in a combination of religions.

Some of those attending the meeting said they feel they must protect their
Jewish identity and the resolution was needed because children can't belong
to two faiths.

"I am thrilled. It tells parents they have a parental responsibility to give
their children a firm religious education in one religion," said Rabbi
Robert Seigel, who runs a Jewish school in Fresno, Calif., and has had
students from interfaith marriages receiving various religious education.

Teen-ager Leah Altmayer of Yakima, Wash., who was first raised Presbyterian
before choosing Judaism, said she had reservations about the resolution.

It "says to me that I'm not allowed to choose my religion," she said.

But 17-year-old Jacob Zlotoff of Santa Monica, Calif., noted the resolution
isn't binding "so in no way is it the law of the land. It says to me that
people here are making determined effort to promote Judaism in interfaith
marriages."

Reform Judaism has 1.5 million members in North America, excluding Mexico,
said Emily Grotta, a spokeswoman for the organization. There are about 5.5
million Jews in all in the region, which includes the United States, Canada
and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Reform Judaism is the most liberal of the three major branches of American
Judaism. Among other things, many Reform synagogues allow organ music on the
Sabbath and do not require men to wear yarmulkes.

* Woman offers Jesus photo as alternative to picture with Santa

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Cherie Shelor was standing in line with her son to
get his picture taken with a shopping mall Santa when she wondered: "What
does this man in red have to do with Christmas, to me?"

"The answer was nothing," said Shelor, who thinks dragging children to be
photographed with mall Santas each year misses the point of Christmas.

So she developed an alternative -- a photo with baby Jesus.

Shelor is charging children $1 to dress up in colorful robes and have their
photo taken in a wooden shed that replicates where Jesus was born. The
children stand next to a cradle with a baby doll inside -- and they also
take home flyers with candy canes and biblical quotations on them.

The business is set up in the parking lot of a Christian bookstore. Next
year, Shelor hopes to find space in a nearby mall.

Shelor said she has been financing and working on the idea for a year.

Danielle McDonald, 10, dressed in the robes, donned a gold cardboard crown
and knelt in the hay-covered shed for her photo.

"I think it's just better to celebrate him on his birthday," she said.

                                   Letter
                              October 28, 1995
          --------------------------------------------------------
                          Concerning the CDF Reply
                      Regarding Ordinatio Sacerdotalis
          --------------------------------------------------------
   Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger Prefect, Congregation for the Doctrine of the
                                   Faith

The publication of the Reply of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith to a dubium regarding the reason for which the teaching contained in
the Apostolic Letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis is to be considered definitive
tenenda seems the appropriate moment to offer certain reflections.

The ecclesiological significance of this Apostolic Letter was underscored
even by its date of publication, for it was on that day, May 22, 1994, that
the Church celebrated the Solemnity of Pentecost. Its importance, however,
could be discovered above all in the concluding words of the Letter: "in
order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance,
a matter which pertains to the Church's divine constitution itself, in
virtue of my ministry of confirming the brethren (cf. Lk 22:32) I declare
that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on
women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church's
faithful" (n. 4).

The Pope's intervention was necessary not simply to reiterate the validity
of a discipline observed in the Church from the beginning, but to confirm a
doctrine "preserved by the constant and universal Tradition of the Church
and firmly taught by the Magisterium in its more recent documents," which
"pertains to the Church's divine consitution itself" (n. 4). In this way,
the Holy Father intended to make clear that the teaching that priestly
ordination is to be reserved solely to men could not be considered "open to
debate" and neither could one attribute to the decision of the Church "a
merely disciplinary force" (ibid).

The fruits of this Letter have been evident since its publication. Many
consciences which in good faith had been disturbed, more by doubt than by
uncertainty, found serenity once again thanks to the teaching of the Holy
Father. However, some perplexity continued, not only among those who,
distant from the Catholic faith, do not accept the existence of a doctrinal
authority within the Church -- that is, a Magisterium sacramentally invested
with the authority of Christ (cf. Lumen Gentium, 21) -- but also among some
of the faithful to whom it continued to seem that the exclusion of women
from the priestly ministry represents a form of injustice or discrimination
against them. Some objected that it is not evident from Revelation that such
an exclusion was the will of Christ for his Church, and others had questions
concerning the assent owed to the Letter.

Certainly, the understanding of the reasons for which the Church does not
have the power to confer priestly ordination on women can be deepened
further. Such reasons, for example, have been set out already in the
Declaration Inter Insigniores (October 15, 1976), issued by the Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith and approved by Pope Paul VI, and in a number
of the documents of John Paul II (for example, Christifideles Laici, 51;
Mulieris Dignitatem, 26), as well as in the Catechism of the Catholic
Church, No. 1577). But in any case it cannot be forgotten that the Church
teaches, as an absolutely fundamental truth of Christian anthropology, the
equal personal dignity of men and women, and the necessity of overcoming and
doing away with "every type of discrimination regarding fundamental rights"
(Gaudium et Spes, 29). It is in the light of this truth that one can seek to
understand better the teaching that women cannot receive priestly
ordination. A correct theology can prescind neither from one nor from the
other of these doctrines, but must hold the two together; only thus will it
be able to deepen our comprehension of God's plan regarding woman and
regarding the priesthood -- and hence, regarding the mission of woman in the
Church. If however, perhaps by allowing oneself to be conditioned too much
by the ways and spirit of the age, one should assert that a contradiction
exists between these two truths, the way of progress in the intelligence of
the faith would be lost.

In the Letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis the Pope focuses attention on the figu
of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, and Mother of the Church. The
fact that she "received neither the mission proper to the Apostles nor the
ministerial priesthood clearly shows that the non-admission of women to
priestly ordination cannot mean that women are of lesser dignity, nor can it
be construed as discrimination against them" (n. 3). Diversity of mission in
no way compromises equality of personal dignity.

Furthermore, to understand that this teaching implies no injustice or
discrimination against women, one has to consider the nature of the
ministerial priesthood itself, which is a service and not a position of
privilege or human power over others. Whoever, man or woman, conceives of
the priesthood in terms of personal affirmation, as a goal or point of
departure in a career of human success, is profoundly mistaken, for the true
meaning of Christian priesthood, whether it be the common priesthood of the
faithful or, in a most special way, the ministerial priesthood, can only be
found in the sacrifice of one's own being in union with Christ, in service
of the brethren. Priestly ministry constitutes neither the universal ideal
nor, even less, the goal of Christian life. In this connection, it is
helpful to recall once again that "the only higher gift, which can and must
be desired, is charity" (cf. 1 Cor. 12:13; Inter Insigniores).

With respect to its foundation in Sacred Scripture and in Tradition, John
Paul II directs his attention to the fact that the Lord Jesus, as is
witnessed by the New Testament, called only men, and not women, to the
ordained ministry, and that the Apostles "did the same when they chose
fellow workers who would succeed them in their ministry" (n. 2; cf. 1 Tim.
3:1ff; 2 Tim. 1:6; Tit. 1:5). There are sound arguments supporting the fact
that Christ's way of acting was not determined by cultural motives (cf. n.
2), as there are also sufficient grounds to state that Tradition has
interpreted the choice made by the Lord as binding for the Church of all
times.

Here, however, we find ourselves before the essential interdependence of
Holy Scripture and Tradition, an interdependence which makes of these two
forms of the transmission of the Gospel an unbreakable unity with the
Magisterium, which is an integral part of Tradition and is entrusted with
the authentic interpretation of the Word of God, written and handed down
(Dei Verbum, 9 and 10). In the specific case of priestly ordination, the
successors of the Apostles have always observed the norm of conferring it
only on men, and the Magisterium, assisted by the Holy Spirit, teaches us
that this did not occur by chance, habitual repetition, subjection to
sociological conditioning, or even less because of some imaginary
inferiority of women; but rather because "the Church has always acknowledged
as a perennial norm her Lord's way of acting in choosing the twelve men whom
he made the foundation of his Church" (n. 2).

As is well known, there are reasons ex convenientia by which theology has
sought and seeks to understand the reasonableness of the will of the Lord.
Such reasons, expounded for example in the Declaration Inter Insigniores,
have their undoubted value, and yet they are not conceived or employed as if
they were strictly logical proofs derived from absolute principles. At the
same time, it is important to keep in mind, as these reasons help us to
comprehend, that the human will of Christ not only is not arbitrary, but
that it is intimately united with the divine will of the eternal Son, on
which the ontological and anthropological truth of the creation of the two
sexes depends.

In response to this precise act of the Magisterium of the Roman Pontiff,
explicitly addressed to the entire Catholic Church, all members of the
faithful are required to give their assent to the teaching stated therein.
To this end, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, with the
approval of the Holy Father, has given an official Reply on the nature of
this assent; it is a matter of full definitive assent, that is to say,
irrevocable, to a doctrine taught infallibly by the Church. In fact, as the
Reply explains, the definitive nature of this assent derives from the truth
of the doctrine itself, since, founded on the written Word of God, and
constantly held and applied in the Tradition of the Church, it has been set
forth infallibly by the ordinary universal Magisterium (cf. Lumen Gentium,
25). Thus, the Reply specifies that this doctrine belongs to the deposit of
the faith of the Church. It should be emphasized that the definitive and
infallible nature of this teaching of the Church did not arise with the
publication of the Letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis. In the Letter, as the
Reply of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith also explains, the
Roman Pontiff, having taken account of present circumstances, has confirmed
the same teaching by a formal declaration, giving expression once again to
quod semper, quod ubique et quod ab omnibus tenendum est, utpote ad fidei
depositum pertinens. In this case, an act of the ordinary Papal Magisterium,
in itself not infallible, witnesses to the infallibility of the teaching of
a doctrine already possessed by the Church.

Finally, there have been some commentaries on the Letter Ordinatio
Sacerdotalis which have suggested that the document constitutes an
additional and inopportune obstacle on the already difficult path of
ecumenism. In this regard, it should not be forgotten that according to both
the letter and the spirit of the Second Vatican Council (cf. Unitatis
Redintegratio, 11), the authentic ecumenical task, to which the Catholic
Church is unequivocally and permanently committed, requires complete
sincerity and clarity in the presentation of one's own faith. Furthermore,
it should be noted that the doctrine reaffirmed by the Letter Ordinatio
Sacerdotalis cannot but fther the pursuit of full communion with the
Orthodox Churches which, in fidelity to Tradition, have maintained and
continue to maintain the same teaching.

The singular originality of the Church and of the priestly ministry within
the Church requires a precise clarity of criteria. Concretely, one must
never lose sight of the fact that the Church does not find the source of her
faith and her constitutive structure in the principles of the social order
of any historical period. While attentive to the world in which she lives
and for whose salvation she labours, the Church is conscious of being the
bearer of a higher fidelity to which she is bound. It is a question of a
radical faithfulness to the Word of God which she has received from Christ
who established her to last until the end of the ages. This Word of God, in
proclaiming the essential value and eternal destiny of every person, reveals
the ultimate foundation of the dignity of every human being, of every woman
and of every man.

+ Joseph Card. Ratzinger
Prefect

[New Advent Web Page]
http://www.knight.org/advent

"ANGLICAN COMMUNION NEWS SERVICE" by IAIN on Aug. 6, 1992 at 07:07 Eastern,
about A NEWS SERVICE PROVIDED THROUGH THE ANGLICAN CONSULTATIVE
COUNCIL,LONDON,UK (772 notes).

Note 772 by ACC on Dec. 8, 1995 at 04:07 Eastern (6193 characters).

5 DECEMBER 1995

ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH AND ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY
WARMLY WELCOMED AT  ANGLICAN COMMUNION OFFICES

The Revd Canon John  L. Peterson, Secretary General of  Anglican Communion,
today welcomed  His All-Holiness Bartholomaios I,  Archbishop of
Constantinople, New Rome, and Ecumenical Patriarch, to the Anglican
Communion  offices in London.  In welcoming  the Patriarch, Canon Peterson
said: "Your All-Holiness, it is a deep privilege to welcome you to the
Secretariat of  the world-wide Anglican Communion.  To host this closing
meeting between you and the spiritual leader of our Anglican family is a
special occasion and honour for us all....While this is not the occasion
for extended discussion of particular issues, one of the issues close to
our heart because it is close to yours, is the restoration of your seminary
at Halki.  If this Anglican Communion Office and its world-wide network can
be of any help in your efforts to reopen your seminary, know that it would
be an honour and a privilege for us to be asked.  As the Archbishop said
last evening, we promise you our support."

During the afternoon His All Holiness and his party took part in  informal
talks with Anglican ecumenical officers, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the
Bishop of London, the Rt Revd Richard Chartres, and the Bishop of Bethlehem
USA, the Rt Revd Mark Dyer. The informal talks focused on the work of the
international dialogue, the question of the filioque and environmental
concerns.  Both the Ecumenical Patriarch and the Archbishop of Canterbury
expressed their appreciation and confidence in the international
Anglican/Orthodox dialogue and informal talks.  The meeting was concluded
in the Chapel at Partnership House with an exchange of  Compass Rose (the
logo of  the Anglican Communion) gifts and a short  Evening Prayer service.

The Ecumenical Patriarch is the  leading heirarch of  the Orthodox Church.
He was accompanied on his visit by  Metropolitan Chysostomos of  Ephesus,
Archbishop Gregorios of Thyateira and Great Britain, Metropolitan John of
Pergamon, Metropolitan Meliton of Philadelphia and other senior Orthodox
church leaders.

His Eminence Metropolitan John of Pergamon is Co-chair of the Anglican
Orthodox Dialogue together with  the Episcopal  Bishop of Bethlehem USA,
the Rt Revd Mark Dyer .

Relations between the Anglican and Orthodox Churches began in the 17th
century. More recently official theological dialogue between the two
Communions began in 1920 and continues today. There are also annual
Anglican Orthodox informal talks which survey a wider range of
relationships  and co-operation between Anglican  and Orthodox throughout
the world.

The Ecumenical Patriarch's visit to England was at the invitation of  the
Archbishop  of Canterbury, the Most Revd Dr George Carey. He arrived in
Britain on 2nd December.   On Sunday morning he visited Orthodox
congregations in Kent and attended the Solemn Eucharist in Canterbury
Cathedral.  On Monday he gave the Constantinople Lecture following Evensong
at Westminster Abbey. In the lecture he talked about the tragedy and
"shame" of separation between churches as the third millennium approaches.
He said that the Orthodox community must first unite.  The Ecumenical
Patriarch  has won widespread recognition for his ecumenical work and
commitment.  He has studied at the World Council of Churches Bossey
Institute in Switzerland and played an important role in the WCC Central
Committee.

The Ecumenical Patriarch lives at Phanar in Istanbul, the former
Constantinople.  The Orthodox Church has an ancient history in Istanbul.
Today Christians in Turkey form a tiny minority of the population - less
than one percent.  Recently the Ecumenical Patriarch has called for the
European Union to be expanded to included Turkey and the countries of
Eastern and South-Eastern Europe.  He believes that Orthodox spirituality
could help Europe find its equilibrium.  Many Christians believe that
Turkey's Christian community would benefit if the country were an a member
of the European Union.

The Archbishop of Canterbury awarded  the Ecumenical Patriarch with  the
Lambeth Cross during his visit to England .  The cross is the highest
honour that an Archbishop of Canterbury can bestow and is only given to
those who have rendered exceptional service to the cause of Christian unity
and especially to strengthening relationships with the Anglican Communion.
During his closing  speech at the end of the Patriarch's visit Dr Carey
said: "As Christian leaders, we bear great burdens for the sake of the
gospel and a world Christian leaders, those burdens can sometimes be very
great indeed.  When I think of my own overseas visits this year, to those
places in the world where there is trouble and violence - I am thinking
particularly of Rwanda and the Sudan, and my forthcoming visit to Bosnia -
I am convinced that our faith has a major contribution to make to the
propagation of world peace.  I know that this is a major concern of your
own and that it has been admirably demonstrated in your own visits
throughout the world.

"Your All Holiness, I know that following this visit our two Communions
will move forward together both in our theological dialogue and in our
relationship in mission and ministry throughout the world.  May God bless
you and your delegation as you continue your travels."

The Ecumenical Patriarch thanked the Archbishop of Canterbury and
colleagues for their warm reception.  "We conclude this visit with a common
prayer.  You show us your concern and genuine love, not avoiding our
special problems and we thank you for this. ...Your joys are our joys and
your pains are our pains." The Ecumenical Patriarch then said he looked
forward to seeing the Archbishop of Canterbury in Turkey.

The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Ecumenical Patriarch signed a joint
communiqu on the altar of the Chapel at Partnership House to mark their
continuing  commitment to work together for unity and peace.  (Text
attached.) The two world church leaders gave those assembled at the service
their blessing.


Photographs of  visit are available from Jim Rosenthal at the Anglican
Communion Office.

The Archbishop of Canterbury's Christmas Message to the Anglican Communion

 [The Rt Revd George Carey]  The whole issue of refugees, displaced people
                             and the homeless has been on my mind and my
heart over the past year. Eileen and I have experienced in many different
ways something of the trauma which so many people in this world today are
suffering.

As Archbishop of Canterbury, I have had the privilege of visiting a number
of Provinces of our Communion and, perhaps more powerfully than ever, I have
been brought face to face with the sorrow and brokenness of our world and
yet at the same time the most extraordinary Spirit-filled joy as well.

In October we stood in the Sinai Desert, remembering the Exodus, and we saw
sites where the holy family is said to have rested on their flight into
Egypt. It is an extraordinary experience to stand in a place where such
history has been made. Mary and Joseph became displaced homeless people,
seeking refuge from tyranny, and their plight is a reminder of the plight of
millions today.

In Rwanda in May, we found people scattered from their homes both inside and
outside the country, struggling to come to terms with the unbelievable
cruelty which nearly destroyed their country in 1994. In Sudan later in the
year, we realised the awful suffering of thousands of people, pushed from
camp to camp, further and further out into the desert, discarded and
unwanted and with so little help and support. And again, in India in
February, we learnt something of a whole caste of people, the dalits, who
are outcast by virtue of their birth. To be in those places made me realise
how exhausted the world is and what challenges there are to our Christian
faith.

But I know only too well that it is not just in Africa or Asia that such
problems exist. Just a few steps from Lambeth Palace, homeless men and
women, young and old, are to be found sleeping on the doorsteps of
fashionable shops on the Strand. My visit to the UN in New York confronted
me afresh with the problems of living in a modern society that leaves many
behind. The world seems to offer so much, yet so few enjoy life to the full.
We must try to ensure that all human beings have a place to live. Can we
rest well at night knowing a fellow child of God is without shelter?

I am concerned at what appears to be mean-spiritedness, complacency and
ignorance, in Church and society alike, which is undermining our commitment
to work for change.

And yet, at the same time, I have discovered the remarkable resilience which
people show in the face of such trouble. We were greeted by thousands in
Sudan full of joy and hope. "While we still sing," they would say, "the
tragedy is not complete." Such steadfastness and determination were equally
to be found in Rwanda and in India. In each place we found faithful pastors
and Church people seeking to live out the Gospel in their communities. I am
amazed and deeply thankful for what we have received from so many people in
the Anglican Communion this year.

What we can be sure of is this. Our home lies in the heart of the one who
was made man - God with us. The Saviour and Prince of Peace opens his arms
for all who come to him in faith. Our task is to be the messengers of this
good news, to be transparent for Christ among those we encounter day by day.
We have just placed a beautiful ebony carving of Mary and the child Jesus in
the Crypt Chapel at Lambeth Palace. It was a wonderful gift from the Church
in Tanzania. It is a moving reminder of the transformation which occurs when
we say "yes" to God. I pray that we may all be willing to take up the call
to be Christ's ambassadors in a world longing for the good news of Christmas
which is ours to share.

May God continue to bless you richly in 1996.

+George Cantuar
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sent from the Anglican Communion Office in London UK at 11:54 am GMT on Tue,
Nov 21, 1995
The Revd Canon John L. Peterson, Secretary General
Canon James M. Rosenthal, Director of Communication
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pennsylvania's Governor has cancelled the state Christmas tree lighting
ceremony in Harrisburg after an in-your-face protest was planned to be
held during the tree lighting.

The governor said that the tree lighting was intended to be a family
event, and he wouldn't hold it with protesters singing parodies of
Christmas carols rewritten to complain that not enough was being done
about combatting AIDS.

The organizers of the protest said the protest would go on.

/john

	From Hal Clifford's column in the Boston Globe:

	The Aspen, Colorado, city council has passed a resolution
	calling upon "citizens, visitors, and valley residents to
	light fires, perform dances, recite incantations, call in
	markers, or whatever it takes to implore the gods of snow
	to shower abundant and glorious show down upon us."

----------------------------------------

	The Prayer Book collect for rain, modified:

	O God, heavenly Father, who by thy Son Jesus Christ hast
	promised to all those who seek thy kingdom, and the
	righteousness thereof, all things necessary to their
	sustenance : send us, we beseech thee, in this our
	necessity, such moderate snow and temperatures ; that
	we may receive the benefits of the mountain ski-slopes
	to our comfort, and to thy honour.  Through Jesus Christ
	our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity
	of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

Electronic Telegraph  Friday 22 December 1995  The Front Page

No Church barrier to Prince becoming Defender of Faith

By Victoria Combe

Prince Charles will not marry Camilla

CONSTITUTIONAL links between Church and State meant that any proposals for
the Prince and Princess of Wales to divorce needed the Archbishop of
Canterbury's approval.

A divorce would not disqualify the Prince from succeeding as both Sovereign
and Supreme Governor of the Church of England and Defender of the Faith.

Lambeth Palace said the Archbishop had "concurred" with the Queen because
there were no "constitutional implications" to a divorce.

"Legally and constitutionally, the only requirement the Prince has to fulfil
to be Supreme Governor is that he be Sovereign," said a Lambeth spokesman.

But before giving his consent, Dr Carey would have looked beyond the letter
of the law to the moral implications of the Prince's role as Defender of the
Faith.

The biggest stumbling block would be a second marriage, but the Prince
swiftly rebuffed that yesterday when he said that he has no intention of
remarrying.

He would, however, have to remain celibate as any sexual relationships
outside marriage would be contrary to Church teachings. Any sexual
relationship would call into question the validity of the Coronation Oath,
where the monarch promises to "maintain the laws of God and of the true
profession of the Gospel".

Tragic that the monarchy had been implicated in a 'modern divorce cult'

Under the Royal Marriages Act, the Prince may remarry anyone except a Roman
Catholic and remain Supreme Governor, but he needs Royal Assent, which is
given on the advice of the Prime Minister and Archbishop.

If the Prince were to decide eventually to remarry, the Archbishop would
take into account the circumstances, including any part the second wife had
in the break-up of the first marriage.

It was this Act that led to the abdication of Edward VIII in 1936 after both
the Government and Church disapproved of his plans to marry Mrs Wallis
Simpson, a divorcee.

Dr Carey, two of whose four children are divorced, has a compassionate view
of divorce. Although divorce is against Christian teaching, the Archbishop
is understood to see it as "the lesser of two evils" in an unhappy marriage.

But the more conservative wings of the Church are not as accepting and are
likely to baulk at a divorced Supreme Governor.

The Rev David Holloway, spokesman for Reform, a conservative evangelical
pressure group representing 1,000 Anglican priests, said it was tragic that
the monarchy had been implicated in a "modern divorce cult".

Electronic Telegraph is a Registered Service Mark of The Telegraph plc

NPR apologizes for commentator's remark
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

(c) 1995 Copyright Nando.net
(c) 1995 Associated Press

WASHINGTON (Dec 23, 1995 - 16:53 EST) -- National Public Radio apologized on
the air for a commentary by humorist Andrei Codrescu that drew complaints
for being anti-Christian.

Codrescu remarks occurred last Tuesday during a commentary on NPR's highly
popular program "All Things Considered"

Codrescu, who is on contract with NPR but not a fulltime employee, was
discussing religious theology and the resurrection of Christ when he
criticized beliefs held by some that all believers will go to heaven and
nonbelievers automatically are destined for hell.

"The evaporation of four million (people) who believe in this crap would
leave the world a better place," he said, referring to those who abide by
this belief.

The apology broadcast Friday evening on NPR's national feed of "All Things
Considered" said Codrescu's "remarks crossed a line of taste and tolerance
that we should have defended with greater vigilance."

NPR spokeswoman Kathy Scott said, "We spoke to Andrei, who told us he would
like to apologize for what, in hindsight, he regards as an inappropriate
attempt at humor. It is one that he regrets and so does NPR."

In a telephone interview from his New Orleans home, Codrescu said his
commentary was about a pamphlet he got on the beliefs of a religious group
called The Rapture.

"I simply described the pamphlet and I guess I used language that offended
the Christian Coalition," Codrescu said. He said he apologizes "for the
language, but not for what I said."

Codrescu, a humorist and writer, is editor of the literary journal
"Exquisite Corpse," and is the author of the novel "The Blood Countess." He
is on contract with NPR and appears on a regular basis, said Scott.

"All Things Considered" is the centerpiece of NPR's broadcast lineup and
airs on radio stations at different times nationwide, but generally is on in
the late afternoon.

The Christian Coalition said NPR rejected a request to allow its executive
director, Ralph Reed, two minutes of air time on "All Things Considered" to
offer an opposing view.

The group, which represents more than 1.7 million people, said it will
intensify lobbying efforts for Congress to discontinue funds to NPR.

NPR, which produces and distributes programs to more than 300 public radio
stations nationwide, gets a slice of the more than $200 million Congress
provides to help support the public broadcasting industry.

AP-DS-12-23-95 0611EST

                           The Christmas Sermon
                             to be given by
                     The Lord Archbishop of Canterbury
               The Most Revd & Right Honourable George L Carey
                             25 December 1995
                             in his Cathedral
                        Church of Christ, Canterbury


ADDRESS BY THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY
CHRISTMAS DAY 1995
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL

So the shepherds hurried off and found Mary and Joseph and the baby who was
lying in a manger.

I have always found the Christmas story to be unfailingly topical. Whether
one thinks of the problems facing refugees, or the homeless, or the wider
issues of the search for hope and meaning, there is something in the
message of Christmas that speaks to them all. Take the central story of the
Nativity itself. It is the story of the beginning of a new family; a
nuclear family if ever there was one; a holy family.

Families have been very much in the news in recent weeks. Over the last few
days the Prince and Princess of Wales, together with the children, have
been at the forefront of our prayers as we have sensed afresh some of the
pain they carry.

Only a short while before their news broke we all shared too in the sudden
grief of a family struck by tragedy. The death of the headmaster Philip
Laurence evoked this sad letter from his 8 year old son Lucien. He wrote to
Father Christmas: `I hope you won't think I am a nuisance but I have
changed my mind as to what I want for Christmas. I wanted to have a
telescope, but I now want to have my Daddy back, because without my Daddy
to help I will not be able to see the stars anyway. I am the only boy in
the family now, but I am not very big and I need my Daddy to help me stop
my Mummy and sister from crying'. Very few things are more traumatic than
the loss of mother or father from the family circle.

Shortly before that terrible event a very different family had been in the
limelight as Rosemary West was sentenced for her part in the awful murders
she and her husband had committed. It came as a horrific reminder that the
strong bonds that bind families together can go terribly wrong. Instead of
being places of nurture and support, families can become webs of vice,
deceit, and cruelty.

But what of the Holy Family? What can we learn from its pattern of
relationships and mutual support that are still of importance for today?

There were, I believe, three `R's' which were of great importance to the
Holy Family and each of their insights have something important to offer as
we reflect on family life in Society today. As we do so let me say that I
am not wanting to exclude in any way those who are single, or who are
single parents. After all, the family of Jesus includes us all.

The three `R's' are these - Reverence, Reliance, and Religion.

First, Reverence. The starting point for any Christian understanding of
humanity must be that we are made in the image of God. But the birth of
Christ gives that understanding greater depth. No longer is it merely the
fact that we bear God's likeness - now God has taken flesh for himself. He
has become human. And, as we gaze with Mary and Joseph at the baby in her
arms, so we are caught up in their awe and wonder not just for that child,
but for all children and for all humanity.

One of the most shocking things about my visit to Bosnia was to hear how
that reverence for the humanity of others had been systematically destroyed
through exclusivist nationalism. Ethnic cleansing came about as human
beings were systematically deprived of all rights and traumatised through
bestial treatment that is almost too shocking to report.

Likewise, as the full horror of what had happened in the Wests' home in
Gloucester emerged, so it became very plain that they had consistently
treated their fellow human beings as things and not as people.

That, of course, was an extreme case, but we hear echoes of it elsewhere in
racist and sexist remarks, in the belittling of the mentally disabled, in
the disparagement of the elderly, or those commonplace references to people
as `beasts', `scum' or `monsters'.

As Christians we must challenge everything that fails to revere the image
of God in others. We must also encourage everything that gives people their
true worth.

And, as we are reminded today, nowhere is more important as the fertile
seedbed of such reverence than the relationships between members of
families. As the different generations, whether married or single, offer
support to one another - as commitment and concern is given within the
family circle - so families grow through mutual respect and reverence. As
Jean Vanier writes, `The union of the man and woman, and the life of their
children, are there for the growth of each other'.

Second, Reliance. In the Holy Family we see the example of trust and
faithfulness bearing fruit in strengthening relationships. I love the story
of Jesus at the age of twelve - a typical youngster you might say - testing
the boundaries of his independence, as he stays on in the Temple after his
parents have set out on their travels.

Rightly we focus on what it says about his relationship with God, but there
is also the sub-text that reveals his own secure relationship with his
human parents. He knew full well that they would not disown him or desert
him and, from that position of security, he, in turn, could grow to
maturity.

Such reliance and trust is vital, not just for families, but for societies
as a whole. One of the saddest things I hear on my visit to Sarajevo was
this comment from a leading Imam in Sarajevo. He said, `Over the last four
years neighbours have lost their trust in one another and it is one of the
most grievous losses of the war'.

Trust and reliance are equally important to us in our more normal
environment. They must not be treated lightly. They are something to be
cherished and nurtured, particularly in our family lives, for children
cannot rely psychologically on the love of their parents if the latter do
not make the time and effort to show it.

I remember reading this comment on life in one clergy family, written by
one of the children, `We always had to knock (at the study door), and often
our father did not look up from what he was doing. Sometimes he would look
over his glasses to see whether it was an important person - or just us'. I
am sure if you had asked that clergyman how he felt about his children he
would have spoken strongly of their importance. Yet that was not what they
experienced - and it comes as a salutary lesson to us all.

Such reliance and trust needs to be built up over time and through spending
time with each other. One of the recent trends that social analysts have
detected is the gradual increase in hours worked each week by those
involved in a variety of management roles. With the threat of downsizing
and redundancy hanging over many, it is easy to see why, for the sake of
their families and to keep their jobs, people are working longer hours -
but we should be in no doubt that there will be a price to pay in terms of
relationships and family life, in time lost to their upbuilding and growth.

Reverence, Reliance and, thirdly, Religion. Christian leaders are expected
to preach about religion. Perhaps we are not so good at talking about its
cohesive importance to family life.

Joseph and Mary brought Jesus to pray and, later, to attend the Synagogue.
Religion also provided the annual rhythms of life as festival followed
festival through the year.

Their religion was not merely an expression of emotional response, or
regular attendance at public worship, rather it was a matter of personal
commitment. In other words it was religion at its best - for the word
`religio' means `I bind myself to'. In terms of faith it means to commit
oneself to walking in God's ways and to keeping his laws; to learning those
habits of heart and mind that lead our children and ourselves to love God
and his Church.

Having such reverence, reliance and religion at the hear of family life
will transform it. It will lead us to have a huge capacity for tolerance
and forgiveness. Such must have been the background to Tennyson's poem
where he talks of the moment when his family was rent asunder by a quarrel:

"As thro' the land at eve we went
and pluck'd the ripen'd ears.
We fell out, my wife and I,
O we fell out I know not why,
and kiss'd again with tears
and blessings on the falling out
that all the more endears,
when we fall out with those we love,
and kiss again with tears!"

Yes, where there is love such a falling out can become a blessing. But
often it is not and we are left with the ache of what might have been.

But these attributes did not make the Holy Family an introverted one. Bound
closely together, they looked out to the world. No sooner had the baby been
born than shepherds - some of the outcasts of society - came to share in
their joy. The Holy Family, in time, became the birthplace of the family of
the Church - in which all of us, young and old, are welcome and belong.

Likewise the values nourished in good families are not for hoarding in
private foxholes but are there to be shared with the wider society. If we
fail as a society to show all people that we care about them and that we
are committed to them, we are failing to obey God's commandment to love our
neighbours as ourselves.

Mary, we read, pondered the experiences of that first Christmas Day in her
heart. She was amazed at the goodness of God. She and her young family
advanced on their adventure of discovering the joys of reverence, reliance
and religion in family life. As they did so, so they discovered more of
God's love and strength. The love which is, of course, the true message of
Christmas for us all.

                         MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS
                            POPE JOHN PAUL II
                              "Urbi et Orbi"
                              Christmas 1995
           
             1. "You are my Son, today I have begotten you" (Heb 1:5).
             The words of today's Liturgy introduce us
             into the mystery of the eternal birth, beyond time,
             of the Son of God,
             the Son, of one Being with the Father.
             The Gospel of John says:
             "In the beginning was the Word,
             and the Word was with God,
             and the Word was God.
             He was in the beginning with God" (Jn 1:1-2).
             We profess the same truth in the Creed:
             "God from God, Light from Light,
             true God from true God,
             begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father;
             through him all things were made.
             For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven:
             by the power of the Holy Spirit
             he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,
             and was made man".
             This is the joyful news of Christmas,
             as transmitted by the Evangelists
             and the Church's apostolic tradition.
             Today we wish to announce it "to the City and to the World",
             Urbi et Orbi.

             2. "He was in the world,
             and the world was made through him" (Jn 1:10).
             The One born on Christmas night
             comes among his own.
             Why does he come?
             He comes to give "new strength",
             a "power" different from that of the world.
             He comes in poverty to a stable at Bethlehem,
             with the greatest of gifts:
             he gives us divine adoption.
             To all who welcome him
             he gives the "power to become children of God" (Jn 1:12),
             in order that in him, the eternal Son of the eternal Father,
             they may be "born of God" (cf. Jn 1:13).
             In him, in fact, in the Babe of this holy night,
             there is life (cf. Jn 1:4):
             life that knows no death;
             the life of God himself;
             the life which, as Saint John says, is the light of men.
             The light shines in the darkness,
             but the darkness did not accept it (cf. Jn 1:4-5).
             On Christmas Night there appears the light that is Christ.
             It shines and penetrates people's hearts,
             filling them with the new life.
             It enkindles in them the eternal light,
             that ever enlightens the human person
             even when the darkness of death envelops the body.
             Precisely for this "the Word became flesh
             and dwelt among us" (Jn 1:14).

             3. "He came to his own,
             and his own people received him not" (Jn 1:11),
             as recorded in the Prologue of John's Gospel.
             The Evangelist Luke confirms this truth,
             and recalls that
             "there was no place for them in the inn" (Lk 2:7).
             "For them", that is, for Mary and Joseph
             and for the Child about to be born.
             This is an idea often expressed in our Christmas carols:
             "His own people did not receive him..."
             In the great inn of the whole human community,
             as well as in the little inn of our own hearts,
             how many poor people even today,
             at the threshold of the Year 2000,
             come to knock!

             4. Christmas is the celebration of welcome and of love!
             Will there be room, on this day,
             for the scattered families of Bosnia-Hercegovina,
             who are still anxiously waiting for the results of peace,
             the peace recently proclaimed?
             And the refugees of Rwanda, will they
             be able to return to a country that is really reconciled?
             Will the people of Burundi
             be able to find once more the path of fraternal peace?
             Will the peoples of Sri Lanka
             be able to look forward, hand in hand,
             to a future of brotherhood and solidarity?
             Will the people of Iraq finally be able to return
             to a normal existence,
             after the long years of embargo?
             Will there be room for the inhabitants of Kurdistan,
             of whom many are obliged, once more, to face the winter
             in the most difficult conditions?
             And how could we forget our brothers and sisters
             of southern Sudan, still exposed to an armed violence
             fomented without respite?
             Nor, indeed, can we forget the people of Algeria,
             who continue to suffer,
             the victims of harsh trials.

             It is in this hurt world that the Infant Jesus,
             in all his love and frailty, appears!
             He comes to free those caught up in hatred,
             and slaves of particular interests, and divisions.
             He comes to open new perspectives.
             The Son of God encourages the hope that,
             in spite of so many great difficulties,
             peace will finally appear on the horizon.
             There are promising signs of this,
             even in troubled areas such as
             Northern Ireland and the Middle East.
             Let people open their hearts to
             the Word of God made flesh
             in the poverty of Bethlehem.

             5. This is the Mystery which we celebrate today:
             God "has spoken to us by a Son" (Heb 1:2).
             In many and in varied ways
             God had spoken through the Prophets,
             but when "the fullness of time" (Gal 4:4) had arrived,
             He spoke through the Son.
             The Son is the reflection of the Father's glory,
             the very stamp of his nature,
             upholding the universe by the power of his word.
             This is what the author of the Letter to the Hebrews
             says about the new-born Son of Mary (cf. Heb 1:3).
             Although through him God the Father created the universe,
             this Child is also the Firstborn
             and the Heir of all creation (cf. Heb 1:1-2).
             This poor Babe,
             for whom "there was no room in the inn",
             in spite of appearances,
             is the sole Heir of the whole of creation.
             He came to share with us this birthright of his,
             so that we, having become children of divine adoption,
             might have a part in the inheritance that he brought
             with him into the world.
             Eternal Word, today we contemplate your glory,
             "glory as of the only Son from the Father,
             full of grace and truth" (cf. Jn 1:14).
             Over the airwaves, may the joyful message of your Birth,
             ever old and ever new,
             reach the peoples and nations of every continent
             and bring peace to the world.

The U.S. Supreme Court has today denied an appeal of a case in which
the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial court refused to allow parents in
Falmouth the right to specify that their own junior high school
children (12 to 14 years old) not be allowed to receive free condoms
from the school nurse.

The Massachusetts Court had ruled that "Parents have no right to
tailor public school programs to meet their individual ... moral
preferences."

The plaintiffs had said in their appeal that the Massachusetts
decision sets a dangerous precedent by allowing schools to help
young students defy parental wishes.

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the appeal without any comment or dissent.

/john

Pope says Jerusalem issue may threaten peace
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Copyright � 1996 Nando.net
Copyright � 1996 Reuter Information Service

VATICAN CITY (Jan 13, 1996 09:52 a.m. EST) - Pope John Paul said on Saturday
Middle East peace could be dashed if differences persisted over the status
of Jerusalem and called for international guarantees to preserve its
multi-religious nature.

In an annual state of the world address, he voiced criticism of those Moslem
states which he said denied religious freedom and said African leaders would
condemn their continent to pariah status unless they mended their ways.

His speech, to ambassadors from more than 160 countries that have relations
with the Holy See, included a call for a swift end to nuclear testing just
one week before a visit to the Vatican by French President Jacques Chirac.

The Pontiff's audience in the Vatican's marble-lined and tapestried Sala
Reggia included Israel's ambassador and, for the first time, a Palestinian
representative.

Speaking in French, he said he hoped Israelis and Palestinians would live
"from now on side by side, with one another, in peace, mutual esteem and
sincere cooperation."

"But allow me to confide that this hope could prove ephemeral if a just and
adequate solution is not also found to the particular problem of Jerusalem,"
he said.

"The religious and universal dimension of the holy city demands a commitment
on the part of the whole international community, in order to ensure that
the city preserves its uniqueness and retains its living character."

He noted that Jerusalem, sacred to Jews, Christians and Moslems, should be
the subject of negotiations between Israel and the new Palestinian Authority
during 1996.

The Vatican and Israel established full ties in 1994, ending centuries of
often hostile Roman Catholic-Jewish relations.

Both sides are still formally at odds over the status of Jerusalem. Most
countries including the Vatican do not recognise Israel's claim to Jerusalem
as its "united and eternal capital" following annexation of the Arab eastern
sector in 1980.

A suggestion last month by murdered Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin's
widow, Leah, after she met the Pope that the Vatican had changed its
position was swiftly quashed.

The Pope cited the Middle East, with Bosnia, Northern Ireland and Central
America, which he will visit next month, as areas of conflict where a
climate of peace was now advancing.

He said there were still "too many hotbeds of conflict, more or less
disguised, which keep people under the unbearable yoke of violence, hatred,
uncertainty and death."

He referred to Algeria, divided Cyprus, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Kashmir and
Sri Lanka, East Timor and several African countries.

Taking up a theme he tackled on a visit to Africa last September, he said he
was addressing the consciences of its leaders to be politically credible if
they wanted outside aid.

"If you do not commit yourselves more resolutely to national democratic
dialogue, if you do not more clearly respect human rights, if you do not
strictly administer public funds and external credits, if you do not condemn
ethnic ideology, the African continent will ever remain on the margins of
the community of nations," he said.

On religious freedom, the Pope said some Moslem countries denied rights of
worship to other faiths even in private.

"This is an intolerable and unjustifiable violation not only of all the
norms of current international law, but of the most fundamental human
freedom, that of practising one's faith openly, which for human beings is
their reason for living."

In line with Vatican practice, he did not mention specific countries, an
approach he also adopted in calling for an end "without delay" to nuclear
testing.

Chirac, whose state visit next Saturday will be the first to the Vatican by
a French president since 1959, has resumed nuclear testing in the South
Pacific. He says France will join a comprehensive test ban when the current
series ends.

Cleric gets life for planning urban war
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Copyright � 1996 Nando.net
Copyright � 1996 Reuter Information Service

NEW YORK (Jan 17, 1996 8:40 p.m. EST) - A federal judge Wednesday sentenced
militant Muslim Sheik Omar Adel-Rahman to life in prison for leading a
terrorist plot that could have devastated New York City and killed
thousands.

The cleric and nine of his followers were all sentenced for planning a war
of violence in the United States that included the bombing of the United
Nations building, bridges and tunnels leading into New York and the
assassination of political and religious leaders.

Another defendant, El Sayyid Nosair, 40, was also sentenced to life for his
role in the plot which included the murder of militant Rabbi Meir Kahane.
The other eight defendants received prison terms ranging from 25 to 57
years.

In sentencing Abdel-Rahman, U.S. District Judge Michael Mukasey told the
cleric he was convicted of leading the terrorist plot.

"You were convicted here of leading a terrorist conspiracy in this country,"
Mukasey told Abdel-Rahman at his sentencing.

"You were convicted of directing others to perform acts which if
accomplished would have resulted in the murder of hundreds if not thousands
of people and brought about devastation on a scale that beggars the
imagination ...certainly on a scale unknown in this country since the Civil
War, if not ever," he said.

He said if the plot had been carried out, it "would have made the World
Trade Center outrage seem almost insignificant by comparison."

The February 1993 World Trade Center blast, which killed six and injured
more than 1,000, was considered the worst terrorist act on U.S. soil at the
time.

Abdel-Rahman, who is blind and diabetic, spoke for more than 1 1/2 hours
through a translator criticizing the United States and Egypt, particularly
its president, Hosni Mubarak.

The translator had to stop several times because of difficulty understanding
the cleric, whose remarks were often repetitious and rambling.

Even so, he had only made it through half of his planned speech, when
Mukasey cut him short.

The cleric did not ask for clemency but said he had been tried unjustly
because of his religious beliefs. He urged Muslims not to befriend
Christians and Jews and said that America would disappear from the face of
the earth if it tries to kill Islam.

He said prosecutors want Muslims to become subservient to America or "else
we have to go to jail for life."

"We do not kneel ... except for God. Please do not be subservient to
America," he said.

The cleric said that the United States believes it is "killing" Islam by
putting Muslims on trial.

"In truth it is killing itself," he said. "It cannot kill Islam and if it
tried to do that, God will actually make it disapper and make it disappear
from the surface of this earth as it had made the Soviet Union disappear."

Mukasey, who had sat patiently through the day-long hearing, said the
defense charge of religious persecution "is totally false."

He said the cleric not only approved the violence but urged his followers
"not to let the waters run" -- meaning not to perform just small,
insignificant acts.

In sentencing Nosair, the other defendant who received a life term, Mukasey
said the evidence showed he was a "major participant in a conspiracy to reap
vast destruction in this country."

Nosair was charged in a state case with murdering Kahane in 1990. However he
was acquitted on the state murder charge in 1992 but was convicted of lesser
weapons violations.

All 10 defendants in the bombing case were convicted of a Civil War era
crime called seditious conspiracy. They were found guilty of agreeing that
the conspiracy's goal would be to use force to oppose the authority of the
United States.

Other defendants sentenced Wednesday and their prison terms are: Ibrahim
Elgabrowny, 57 years; Clement Hampton-El, 35 years; Victor Alvarez, 35
years; Mohammed Saleh, 35 years; Fadil Abdelghani, 25 years; Tarig Elhassan,
35 years; Fares Khallafalla, 30 years, and Amir Abdelgani, 30 years.

DIOCESE OF JERUSALEM CONSECRATES NAZARETH PASTOR TO SUCCEED KAFITY

        (ENS) Jerusalem's gothic Cathedral Church of St.
George the Martyr swelled with music and liturgy as
Episcopalians and Anglicans gathered on Epiphany Sunday,
January 6, to consecrate the Ven. Riah Hanna Abu El-Asssal of
Nazareth as the third Palestinian bishop to serve the diocese.

        Riah, who served Christ Church in Nazareth for 27
years, is expected to succeed Bishop Samir Kafity when he
retires in 1998.

        Five American bishops were among the 15 bishops from
around the world who surrounded Riah as he received the
symbols of his office from Kafity. Muslim, Druse and Jewish
religious leaders were among the honored guests.

        A dominant theme at the consecration service was the
search for a just peace in the Holy Land, a deep personal
concern for the new bishop who with his family became
refugees when the state of Israel was formed in 1948. In his
sermon, the Rev. Canon John Peterson of London, general
secretary of the Anglican Communion Office, declared that the
church must speak clearly on the critical issues of justice and
peace for the peoples of the Middle East. He called on Riah "to
speak not only for your own people, but for all voiceless people
of the world--be they Sudanese, Rwandan, Burmese or
whomever."

DEEPLY INVOLVED IN SEARCH FOR PEACE

        Riah was deeply involved in the peace process before the
current negotiations began. In 1985, after he founded the
Palestinian Progressive Movement for Peace, he traveled to
Tunis to encourage PLO President Yasser Arafat to negotiate
with the Israelis. For his behind-the-scenes role in early peace
efforts, Riah was invited to attend the Oslo ceremonies at which
the Nobel Peace Prize was presented to Arafat, the late Israeli
Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin and Israeli Foreign Minister
Shimon Peres.

        This spring Riah's book, "Caught in Between," will be
published in London. It is a description of how Arabs with
Israeli citizenship witness to their faith and seek to retain their
Palestinian identity.

        Asked about his personal goals and dreams, Riah
identified "a comprehensive and just peace in which Palestinians
enjoy freedom and equal rights on the land, side-by-side with
Israelis. He is an advocate for an eventual confederation of both
Palestine and Israel, in a strong belief that "both peoples would
benefit."

        As bishop in Jerusalem, Riah said he hopes to work for a
common date for Easter--Christians now celebrate two--and a
single Christmas celebration--there are now three. "I hope to see
Christians celebrate their great feasts together in my lifetime,"
he said. As a signal of his ecumenical spirit, he left St.
George's shortly after his own consecration to attend Greek
Orthodox Christmas services in Bethlehem. President Arafat
also participated in that liturgy.

ENCOURAGING RETURN OF PALESTINIANS 

        Another of Riah's personal goals is to strengthen the
church in the Holy Land by encouraging Christians who
emigrated to return to Palestine. "With full appreciation for the
partnership of other churches around the world, I want to see
our church become self-supporting," he said. "I want to work
for a Christian aliyah--the return of persons whose roots are in
this land." In 1991 Riah described that dream to Pope John Paul
II, urging that Catholics join in "a new strategy for Christian
presence in the Holy Land, a presence based on living stones."

        Riah, who headed for a career in medicine or education,
was pulled into the church as a young man when the church in
Nazareth lost its pastor. He served as lay minister for four years
and decided to become a priest. He studied at Bishop's College
in Calcutta and eventually at United Theological College in
Bangalore, India, where his ecumenical commitments were
nourished.

        He traces his devotion to the church to the piety of his
paternal grandmother, a sister of Simon Azar Srouji, an Arab
Christian now being considered by the Vatican as a possible
second Palestinian saint.

        The American bishops who participated were Art
Williams of Ohio, representing Presiding Bishop Edmond
Browning; Keith Ackerman of Quincy; G. Bob Jones of
Wyoming; Stewart Wood, Jr. of Michigan; and H. Coleman
McGehee, former bishop of Michigan. The archbishop of
Canterbury was represented by Bishop Robin Smith of Hertford.
Bishop Naim Nasser represented the historic relationship
between Anglicans in Jerusalem and the Evangelical Lutheran
Church of Jordan, with offices in Jerusalem.

				--J. MARTIN BAILEY,
				  ACTING DIRECTOR OF THE
				  MIDDLE EAST COUNCIL OF CHURCHES
				  OFFICE IN JERUSALEM.

[ENS articles may be republished without further permission.]

OKLAHOMA DIOCESE CONTINUES TO ADDRESS HUMAN COSTS IN WAKE OF BOMBING

BY JAMES H. THRALL

(ENS)--Some of the victims of the Oklahoma City bombing have yet to
discover that they even are victims.

Even those residents of Oklahoma not injured in the April 19, 1995, blast
at the Alfred Murrah Federal Building and not directly related to someone
who died or was hurt in the bombing, find the horror of that day creeping
up to strike them months later.

"It's not one of those things where you can go away and forget it," said
the Rev. Mel Truitt, rector of the Church of the Redeemer in Oklahoma City
and coordinator of relief efforts for the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma.
"It's going to be right there in front of you." 

As the diocese works with other religious and relief organizations to
distribute the funds that poured in to assist bomb victims, an increasing
need is for "long-term counseling for those who are secondary victims," he
said. Secondary victims, he  explained, can include family members and
friends, but also those just struggling with the psychological costs of a
bomb that struck too close to home. 

"The 19th of April hit all of us," Truitt said. "It was like lightning and
thunder--all of us jumped."

Counselors geared up for Christmas--a time when those who perished would be
especially missed--and will be preparing as well for the first anniversary
of the blast and for the trial of suspect Timothy McVeigh when renewed
media attention will spark another resurgence of memories. "We're looking
for the long-range now," Truitt said. "People are showing up who didn't
think they needed any counseling."

AN INTER-FAITH EFFORT

Much of the support offered by the diocese has been coordinated through the
Interfaith Disaster Discovery of Greater Oklahoma City. 

"It's the only group that included Muslims, Bahai--every faith group you
can think of," said the Rev. Charles Woltz, diocesan canon to the ordinary.
The interfaith emphasis was key, he said, because "almost immediately after
the bombing, some of the TV stations mentioned Muslims as suspects and
raised all the old ghosts. We wanted to combat that in a healthy way."

At the same time, reported Truitt, who served for a while as president of
the interfaith group's board, the funds distributed by the diocese have
been identified as specifically Episcopal. 

"We wanted to make sure that the Episcopal presence was felt in the
community," Truitt said. Though only 20,000 strong in the area,
Episcopalians were able to make a significant impact because "the Anglican
community was very, very generous from around the world and in the
community here," he said. "We're still getting funds."

Nearly $550,000 was received in donations from around the world, including
a grant from the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief, a gift from the
Archbishop of Canterbury and gifts from most of the dioceses in the United
States. Reflecting the high level of generosity, the diocese was able to
return the $25,000 grant from the Presiding Bishop's Fund "so that it could
be used elsewhere," Truitt said.

An additional $100,000 was sent to the diocese for the restoration of St.
Paul's Cathedral, which was severely damaged in the blast. The diocese
matched the donations for the cathedral restoration with its own grant of a
second $100,000 from diocesan funds.

So far, nearly $375,000 of the undesignated funds has been paid out in
assistance to families of victims for counseling and medical expenses,
burial expenses, and housing, house repair and living expenses. In some
cases, "we replaced cars or made repairs to cars that were damaged," Truitt
said.

For the families of the two Episcopalians who died in the bombing,
donations have provided a year's college tuition for their children. And
$102,000 was pooled with funds of other relief groups to provide a central
fund for distribution.

In order to show "solidarity with other downtown churches," Truitt said,
some of the funds have helped churches of other denominations rebuild,
including a downtown Methodist church; Calvary Baptist Church, historic as
a meeting place during the civil rights movement; and the Roman Catholic
cathedral.  

Cathedral pursues ambitious program to rebuild

St. Paul's Cathedral, which stands only two blocks from the bomb site, is
using the need to repair extensive bomb damage as an opportunity to make
other "much-needed repairs and improvements," said Marilyn Smotherman,
development coordinator.

Under an aggressive time-table that has telescoped many of the planning
steps into just a few months, the congregation hopes to have the cathedral
re-opened by Christmas, 1996, she said. According to Woltz, "well over a
million dollars" has been received in donations and pledges in a $2.8
million fund-raising drive that will supplement insurance money for the
reconstruction. 

Meanwhile the work of the cathedral, including the congregation's St.
George's Guild which provides services to the needy, has continued,
Smotherman reported. "We have Mobile Meals to serve shut-ins every
Wednesday," she said. "It was a Wednesday when the bomb hit and they still
got the meals out."

Despite national prayer day history, different camps argue for, against it
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Copyright � 1996 Nando.net
Copyright � 1996 Cox News Service

(Apr 30, 1996 10:01 a.m. EDT) -- Americans celebrate the National Day of
Prayer on Thursday, continuing a tradition older than the U.S. Constitution.

It's a practice rich with history and now controversy.

The First Continental Congress declared a day of prayer for the colonies in
1775. Abraham Lincoln signed a proclamation setting a date of "National
Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer" in the midst of the Civil War in 1863. And,
in 1952, Congress unanimously passed a joint resolution, signed by President
Harry Truman, establishing a Day of Prayer as federal law.

Congress in 1988 officially set the day as the first Thursday in May.

President Clinton signed a proclamation for this year's day that says in
part, "We should celebrate this day in the tradition of our founders who
believed that God governs in the affairs of men and women. . . ."

But not all Americans agree that the country needs -- or should have -- a
National Day of Prayer.

"In my own view, the Jewish community is best off not encouraging public
prayer," said Michael Broyde, an Orthodox Jewish rabbi and professor in
Emory University's law school. "There is no such thing as a
non-denominational prayer in a way that allows people of diverse
understandings of God to feel comfortable in prayer."

But the real dispute over public prayer is not between various religious
groups but between those who see American society as secular and those who
see it as religious, he said.

"I think the trend is against public expression of all religions," Broyde
said.

But Richard Land, head of the Southern Baptist Convention's Christian Life
Commission, disagrees.

"Americans are a very religious people, and they expect the government to
accommodate itself to the people's religious beliefs," he said.

Land sees accommodation as a middle ground between establishmentarianism, or
endorsement of a state religion, and secularism, or the rejection of all
public religious expression.

"I would say what most Americans want is government accommodation of the
religious nature of our people in all of its pluralistic expression and
government accommodation of the people's expression of their religious
convictions," Land said.

Broyde believes that the ambiguity in American society's attitude toward
public prayer is exemplified in the fact that while in many settings civic
prayer is discouraged, some state legislatures and the U.S. Congress open
their sessions with prayer.

"It's very hard to explain in any rational way why prayer in the Legislature
is permitted," Broyde said.

Barry Lynn, a United Church of Christ minister who serves as executive
director of the Washington-based Americans United for Separation of Church
and State, agrees.

"Civic religion has always been probably the least theologically sound and
most meaningless expression of religion in our history," he said. "Civic
religion always cheapens religion. It really is pandering to the idea that
if you appear to be religious, particularly in election years, it'll be good
for you at the polls."

Lynn charges that the day has become political. "The Religious Right has
kind of hijacked a dubious idea and politicized it even more," he said.

He points to the task force that plans activities for the National Day of
Prayer, a group headed for several years by Shirley Dobson, wife of
conservative Christian psychiatrist and radio personality James Dobson,
founder of the Focus on the Family organization. Its co-chair is singer Pat
Boone, also an evangelical Christian.

National Day of Prayer literature claims that the task force is "a
non-sectarian group with no political affiliation."

"The intense focus on public institutions means this is indeed political,"
Lynn charges. "There's more focus in all their material about what you
should do to pray for politicians and in public places than what you can do
in church. It's as if politicians and public places are the heart of it --
which I think is backward."

Land counters that the National Day of Prayer is a means of government
acknowledgement of, but not sponsorship of, religion.

"The government is not paying for the National Day of Prayer. The government
is not telling Americans how to pray. It's not endorsing one kind of prayer
over another," he said.

On Thursday, Land said, Americans are free to pray however and wherever they
want to -- or to ignore the day altogether.

 Did anybody else happen to hear Billy Graham's speech today in Washington?
 He receieved the Congressional Gold Medal (as did his wife) and he 
 gave a speech (more like preached a sermon!) to a bunch of politicians,
 et al essentially telling them what the solution to this country's problem
 is..I only caught part of it, and another piece of it on CSPAN..

 I heard that at some point today he told Clinton he should never have
 vetoed the late term abortion bill..

 I'd love to find the text to that message.



 Jim

Teens charged in girl's ritual torture and sacrifice
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Copyright � 1996 Nando.net
Copyright � 1996 The Associated Press

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (May 3, 1996 00:17 a.m. EDT) -- Three
Satan-worshiping high school boys drugged, raped, tortured and murdered a
15-year-old girl in hopes a virgin sacrifice would earn them "a ticket to
hell," prosecutors said Thursday.

Elyse Pahler's body was found in March at what prosecutors believe was an
altar to Satan in a eucalyptus grove outside of San Luis Obispo.

Jacob W. Delashmutt, 16, Joseph Fiorella, 15, and Royce E. Casey, 17, were
arrested March 14. They are being held on charges of murder, gang
involvement, rape, torture and conspiracy.

Elyse disappeared July 22 and had been listed as a missing person until
Casey came forward and led authorities to her body, Deputy District Attorney
Dan Bouchard said. She was slain the night she left her house, Bouchard
said.

The boys "selected and stalked her believing that she was a virgin and that
her sacrifice would earn them a 'ticket to hell,"' Bouchard said.

The boys allegedly had a knife when they took Elyse to the apparent altar,
which prosecutors would not describe. There, prosecutors said, she was
drugged, a belt was put around her neck and she was raped and tortured, then
stabbed repeatedly in the torso.

According to court papers, the boys "formed a musical band to glorify Satan.
To enhance their musical ability to worship Satan and thereby earn a 'ticket
to hell,' they discussed the need for human sacrifice."

"To glorify Satan and commit the 'ultimate sin' against God, (they) selected
a virgin," prosecutors added.

The oldest of four children, the blond, blue-eyed girl was described by her
family in an obituary form as being active in church and gifted in the arts.
"She loved God, his beautiful world and loved her friends and large family,"
the family said.

Casey's attorney Kevin McReynolds said: "A lot of the allegations are
grossly overstated and some of them are flatly without any factual support
whatsoever. Our view is that many of these allegations are intended to
inflame public opinion and we look forward to the hearing."

Fiorella's lawyer declined to comment Thursday. Delashmutt's attorney was
unavailable for comment, his office said.

A hearing is set for June 12, If the teen-agers are tried as adults and the
jury finds special circumstances, they face up to life without parole. If
tried as juveniles, they face up to about seven years of juvenile detention,
said Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district
attorney's office.

Records show few fires result from racism; rise in white fires
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Copyright � 1996 Nando.net
Copyright � 1996 The Associated Press

(Jul 5, 1996 02:29 a.m. EDT) -- Amid all the frightening images of churches
aflame, amid all the fears of raging racism, a surprising truth emerges:
There is little hard evidence of a sudden wave of racially motivated arsons
against black churches in the South.

A review of six years of federal, state and local data by The Associated
Press found arsons are up -- at both black and white churches -- but with
only random links to racism. Insurance industry officials say this year's
toll is within the range of what they would normally expect.

There is no evidence that most of the 73 black church fires recorded since
1995 can be blamed on a conspiracy or a general climate of racial hatred. In
fewer than 20 cases, racism is the clear motivation.

"You don't want to discount the racially motivated fires, but this a crime
that has been going on for a long time and affects all religions and races,"
said Loretta Worters, a spokeswoman for the Insurance Information Institute,
a trade group that tracks data affecting insurance companies.

Among the findings in a review of church fires in 11 Southern states where
the trend was first noted:

--Largely because of a few nights' work by serial arsonists, there has been
an 18-month jump in black church arsons.

Such fires are fairly rare in most states, and thus they multiply quickly.
For example, Louisiana had seven black church arsons all year; four of them
occurred in a one-night spree in the Baton Rouge area.

Mississippi averages about two black church arsons a year; when two churches
burned on the same night in rural Kossuth, this year's tally stood at four.
There have been six fires in Alabama -- twice the average number for a year
-- after three fires in three weeks in a single county.

--The number of white church fires also has increased. Florida, Georgia,
Tennessee, Oklahoma and Virginia have seen more fires at white churches than
black churches since 1995.

The spread was greatest in Texas, where a USA Today survey published last
week found 20 white church fires and 11 black church fires. The total count
for the last 18 months: 75 fires at white churches and 73 at black churches.
The tally for the past six years offers a wider margin: 248 arsons at white
churches compared to 161 at black churches.

--There is evidence pointing to racially motivated arsons in 12 to 18 of the
fires, including arrests for two fires in South Carolina and two in
Tennessee. Another four Tennessee fires had clear racial overtones. Evidence
suggests cases where black churches were singled out in Alabama, Mississippi
and Louisiana.

--Racism is unlikely in 15 black fires. Black suspects were named in nine of
those cases; another six churches were burned as part of arson sprees that
included both white and black property.

--In the remaining dozen cases where there have been arrests the question of
racism is more subtle. The gallery of suspects includes drunken teen-agers,
devil worshippers, burglars and three separate cases where firefighters are
accused of setting blazes they then helped put out.

Another possible motivation: At least 18 fires at black and white churches
have come in the weeks since President Clinton first spotlighted the issue
of black church fires.

"There's a lot of feeling out there that there are copycat fires," said
Richard Gilman of the Insurance Committee for Arson Control, an industry
trade group.

Fire experts like Gilman say the seeming rash of fires reveals a simple
fact: Churches have long been a favorite target for arsonists.

National Fire Protection Association data show the rate of church arsons has
dropped steadily from the 1,420 recorded in 1980. But in 1994, the last year
of available data, there were an estimated 520 church arsons nationwide --
about 10 a week.

Often located in isolated rural areas, empty for most of the week, churches
offer a secluded venue for firebugs, vandals, thieves and those with a
grudge.

Thirty percent of all church fires are attributed to arson, twice the rate
of all structure fires in the United States.

"The number of arson fires that have broken out this year are within the
norm," the Insurance Information Institute's Worters said.

Still, the furor over black church fires has caught on, to the point that
the president, Attorney General Janet Reno, Christian Coalition executive
director Ralph Reed, and scores of religious and political figures have
spoken out against them.

How was the federal government alerted to the issue? The states inform
federal authorities of church arsons; those notifications increased in 1995,
and investigators are trying to determine what that means.

Some fires are clearly a product of hate. Since 1990, federal and state
courts have heard at least seven cases that sent 23 people to prison for
burning or desecrating 13 churches and one synagogue.

One of those cases involved the torching of a pair of Tennessee churches by
three white men whose Super Bowl carousing turned ugly. More recently, two
young men with Ku Klux Klan ties were arrested for burning two South
Carolina churches.

Evidence of racial motivation exists for arsons in Tennessee, Louisiana,
Mississippi and Alabama where neighboring black churches were burned over a
short period while nearby white churches were spared.

"You can't discount the fairly obvious thread of racism that is involved. I
don't think there's room in America for that kind of coincidence," said Noah
Chandler, a research associate with the Center for Democratic Renewal, the
Atlanta-based civil rights group that has campaigned to bring attention to
black church fires in the South.

But little evidence of racial intent exists in a majority of the recent
fires. Investigators, and in some cases even church officials, have
discounted hate as a motivation in a dozen cases where whites were arrested
and in a number of cases that remain under investigation.

Many of the unsolved cases are believed to be the work of burglars or
juveniles or accidents.

"Most times until you identify the perpetrator you can't know the motive,"
said John Robison, Alabama's fire marshal. "Yes, there are some of them that
are racially motivated, but a vast majority of them are not."

For the residents of Barnwell County, S.C., motive remains a mystery in an
attack on three churches along a six-mile stretch of Highway 300 on the
night of April 13.

Arsonists using diesel fuel hit the black Rosemary Baptist Church and two
white congregations, Mount Olivet Baptist and Allen's Chapel Baptist. The
black church was seriously damaged; fires failed to spread at the other two.

When Gov. David Beasley visited the black church and appeared with its
pastor, Allen's Chapel pastor J.H. Propst watched from the crowd.

"No one in the community really understands these fires," Propst said. "But
from the president on down to the governor, no one has focused on the fact
they intended to burn our church down, too."

But the issue has not been divisive. Propst's church voted to open its doors
to the black congregation.

"If anything, it has brought us together as Christian people," he said.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Copyright � 1996 Nando.net

 A woman in New Hampshire was arrested for endangering the life of
 her unborn baby after a binge of drinking left with a bac of .21 (.10
 constitutes being under the influence).."This is my body.  If I choose to
 abort, if I choose to do anything to my body, it's my body", the woman
 said..The ACLU has come to her defense.

 
 I don't hold out a great deal of hope (apart from salvation through
 Jesus Christ) for this world of ours.



 Jim

    .440  Amen to that!
    
    r

     Law voided on days off for religion.

     By John Ellement, Globe Staff, 08/21/96

     A Massachusetts law that protected employees who
     refused to work on religious holidays was struck
     down yesterday by the state's high court as an
     unconstitutional infringement on the separation of
     church and state, raising fears that employees may
     be forced to choose between their faith and their
     paycheck.

     In a 4-3 ruling, the Supreme Judicial Court said
     that two Roman Catholic women who were fired in
     1992 for refusing to work on Christmas Day at the
     Raynham-Taunton Greyhound Park cannot get their
     jobs back.

     The majority, in an opinion written by Justice
     Francis P. O'Connor, said the 23-year-old law
     wrongly forced judges to delve into the theology
     and doctrine of particular faiths. The majority
     also said the law improperly granted protection to
     organized religions, but not to lesser known
     faiths or to an individual who may hold unique,
     but sincere, religious beliefs.

     Those flaws violated not only the separation of
     church and state but the requirement that citizens
     receive equal protection, regardless of their
     faith. ``A statute that prefers one or more
     religions over another violates the establishment
     clause,'' O'Connor wrote. The law required judges
     to determine the beliefs of ``adherents to the
     Roman Catholic faith. These are not proper matters
     for the courts to decide,'' said O'Connor.

     Kathleen Pielech, one of two women who firmly
     believed that the doctrine of her church forbade
     her to work on Christmas Day in 1992 and who filed
     the lawsuit, yesterday said she was devastated by
     the SJC's decision.

     ``It just shatters all my faith in the legal
     system. It shatters my belief in government,''
     said Pielech, who is a member of the Holy Family
     parish in Taunton. ``Personally, it's devastating.
     It's absolutely devastating. I lost my job after
     nine and a half years because I believe in
     Jesus.''

     Patricia Reed, Pielech's co-worker, fellow
     parishioner and fellow plaintiff before the SJC,
     said she has been twice ``penalized.'' First when
     she was fired and now by the SJC.

     ``I would say losing your job because you choose
     your worship of God over your worship of money,''
     is outrageous, said Reed, who lives in Berkley.
     ``I just can't imagine that this is America
     anymore. Our country was founded by people who
     want what I want - to worship on my own.''

     Filing briefs with the court in favor of
     protecting the women were the Anti-Defamation
     League, the Archdiocese of Boston, the Civil
     Liberties Union of Massachusetts and Attorney
     General Scott Harshbarger.

     Howard A. Brick, the attorney for the
     Anti-Defamation League, said the way Superior
     Court Judge John J. O'Brien handled the Catholic
     women's case raised concerns about the impact
     future rulings would have on Judaism, with its
     lack of a centralized governing body and multiple
     views of what it means to be a Jew.

     ``Our concern was that if you had a statute that
     provided protections only to beliefs that could be
     proven to be the required practice of any
     recognized religion, what do you do with Judaism
     where there is Reformed Judaism, Conservative
     Judaism and Orthodox Judaism?'' he said. ``We're
     concerned that as things now stand, there is no
     statute protecting employees.''

     Pielech and Reed said they want to bring the issue
     to the US Supreme Court and appealed to ``people
     of all faiths to come forward and fight this with
     us,'' Pielech said.

     Their attorney, Harvey A. Schwartz, said the
     conflict between faith and work schedules arose
     more often in less mainstream religions, but had
     usually been quickly quelled when an employer
     learned of the law. ``Some people are going to
     have to search their conscience and decide, `Is my
     faith more important than my paycheck?'''

     But Kenneth Gear, vice president and legal counsel
     for the Retailers Association of Massachusetts,
     said most employers already try to accommodate
     their employees' religious needs. ``Most employers
     probably didn't know about the existence of that
     law,'' he said. ``They acted to help out their
     employees.''

     Gear also said it was his personal impression that
     the 1,000 retailers in his trade group would not
     seize on the SJC's ruling to suddenly change past
     habits. Moreover, he said, the state laws that
     allow stores to open on Sundays require that
     employees volunteer for the duty. That law
     apparently is not affected by the SJC ruling

     Joel A. Kozol, the attorney for the dog track,
     predicted that the Legislature would quickly enact
     a successor law, one that does not ``involve the
     courts in determining what is the correct dogma of
     a particular religion, which is an area the courts
     should stay out of.''

     In the dissenting opinion, written by Justice Ruth
     I. Abrams, three justices said they would have
     sent the issue back to Superior Court to determine
     whether the two women acted out of sincerely held
     religious beliefs. There was no need, the
     dissenters said, to strike down the entire law.

     ``Workers in this Commonwealth have now lost an
     important state protection designed to preserve
     their religious beliefs against the unreasonable
     demands of employers,'' Abrams wrote. And ``two
     women have been denied the chance to show that
     their sincerely held religious beliefs do not
     permit them to work on Christmas, and they have
     lost their jobs.''

     This story ran on page a1 of the Boston Globe on
     08/21/96.

Court says cross on city property is 'clearly' unconstitutional
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Copyright � 1996 Nando.net
Copyright � 1996 Scripps-McClatchy Western

EUGENE, Ore. (Aug 21, 1996 02:23 a.m. EDT) -- The landmark cross atop
Eugene's Skinner Butte "clearly represents governmental endorsement of
Christianity" and is thus unconstitutional, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals in San Francisco ruled Tuesday.

Resurrecting one of Eugene's longest and most divisive controversies, a
three-member panel of judges ruled unanimously that the cross violates the
First Amendment's "wall of separation" between church and state.

The ruling leaves the city of Eugene with limited choices: Appeal to the
U.S. Supreme Court, or remove the cross from public property.

City Attorney Bill Gary said he had not had a chance to review the ruling
and couldn't comment. Acting City Manager Linda Norris was unavailable for
comment. City Council President Tim Laue said he believes the cross is
unconstitutional but doesn't know where other council members stand on the
issue.

The cross has stood atop the butte immediately north of downtown since 1964.
By a 3-1 margin, Eugene voters in 1970 approved a city charter amendment
declaring the cross a war memorial.

In an unscientific telephone survey conducted in April 1995 by The
Register-Guard, 62 percent of 3,100 telephone callers said the cross should
remain on the butte.

The case before the 9th Circuit was brought by the Separation of Church and
State Committee and Eugene residents Jeff Lewis and Jimi Mathers. Eugene
lawyer Charles Porter, a former U.S. congressman and persistent critic of
the cross, represented the plaintiffs.

Porter filed the lawsuit -- the third against the cross but the first in
federal court -- in April 1991. U.S. District Court Judge Michael Hogan of
Eugene ruled in favor of the cross in December 1992. Porter then appealed
the case to the 9th Circuit, which heard arguments in November 1994.

In addition to the Skinner Butte cross, the 9th Circuit also ruled Tuesday
that the 103-foot-tall Mount Davidson cross, which stands on a public
hillside in San Francisco, is unconstitutional.

The court's ruling in the Eugene case is straightforward: The cross violates
the First Amendment's "Establishment Clause," which forbids government
activity "respecting the establishment of a religion."

"There is no question that the Latin cross is a symbol of Christianity, and
that its placement on public land by the city of Eugene violates the
Establishment Clause," the court ruled.

"Because the cross may reasonably be perceived as governmental endorsement
of Christianity, the city of Eugene has impermissibly breached the First
Amendment's 'wall of separation' between church and state," the court said.

The fact that the city contends the cross is a war memorial isn't sufficient
to withstand Establishment Clause analysis, the court added. Also, the
city's use of a cross to memorialize war dead "may lead observers to believe
that the city has chosen to honor only Christian veterans," the court noted.

David Schuman, a University of Oregon law professor, helped write a legal
brief in support of the plaintiffs on behalf of the American Civil Liberties
Union. Schuman said it's significant that the court's three judges were
unanimous in their ruling and that their opinion was so short.

"That means the court didn't think it involved any complex legal issues," he
said. "It's very straightforward."

Federal judges Donald Lay, Harry Pregerson and Diarmuid O'Scannlain made the
ruling. O'Scannlain, however, wrote a concurring opinion that could prove
helpful to the city should it decide to appeal.

O'Scannlain said he believes the court used the wrong legal standard in
ruling the cross unconstitutional, and expressed sympathy for the views of
Eugene residents.

He said he wrote a separate opinion "because I believe the court owes the
people of the city of Eugene a better explanation of why, having been
judicially reviewed four times over the last 25 years, the very cross at
issue in this appeal has been first condemned, then twice approved, and now
once again condemned, all by well-intentioned judges."

O'Scannlain said the court should have based its ruling on a 1989 case,
Allegheny County vs. Greater Pittsburgh ACLU, in which the U.S. Supreme
Court ruled that a menorah, but not a creche, could be constitutionally
located on public property beside a county courthouse. A menorah is a symbol
of Judaism and a creche is a stable with figures, usually representing the
birth of Jesus.

The 9th Circuit, said O'Scannlain, failed to consider the Eugene cross'
context as required by the Allegheny case, "particularly the cross'
historical significance as an officially designated war memorial. Instead,
the court errs by resting its holding solely on the naked assertion that a
'Latin cross is a symbol of Christianity.'?"

Lewis and Mathers, the two plaintiffs, are active in local Republican
politics; Mathers served as Lewis' campaign manager in his unsuccessful run
for the U.S. Senate last spring.

Mathers joined the case after the 1993 death of plaintiff Catherine Lauris,
a former Eugene city councilwoman who cast the sole dissenting vote when the
original complaint about the cross was brought before the City Council in
the mid-1960s.

Mathers said she's lived in the area all her life and couldn't understand
why the cross was allowed to stay when first erected 30 years ago. "I think
separation of church and state is what makes religious freedom possible in
this country," she said.

(Distributed by Scripps-McClatchy Western Service.)

More on the story in .442

Protection against religious discrimination ruled unconstitutional in
Massachusetts

--------------------------------------------

Because the courts cannot determine whether a religious practice or belief
is a legitimate belief or not, the courts also cannot protect a person who
is discriminated against because of that belief.

Two women had filed suit under the anti-discrimination law, claiming that
by firing them when they had insisted on observing their devout beliefs,
their employer had engaged in illegal religious discrimination.  They had
provided an affidavit that their religion prohibited work on Christmas Day;
their employer provided a competing affidavit that their religion had no
such prohibition.

The Massachusetts Supreme Court, in upholding a lower court decision,
said that the anti-discrimination law "effectively compels courts, in
cases where the dogma of an established church or religion is disputed,
to ascertain the requirements of the religion at issue."

"These are not proper matters for the courts to decide," Justice Francis P.
O'Connor wrote in the majority opinion, joined by Justices Charles Fried,
Herbert Wilkins and Neil Lynch. 

From an AP article:

In their dissenting opinion, the other three justices argued that in the
decision, the court ``relies on a rigid and overly analytic interpretation
of its words ...'' 

``Two women have been denied the chance to show that their sincerely held
religious beliefs do not permit them to work on Christmas, and they have
lost their jobs,'' wrote Justice Ruth Abrams. ``Even more regrettably,
workers in this commonwealth have now lost an important state protection
designed to preserve their religious beliefs against the unreasonable
demands of employers.'' 

Joining Abrams in the dissent were Chief Justice Paul Liacos and Justice
John Greaney. 

The Massachusetts Council of Churches blasted the ruling today, saying:
``In this case, equal protection ends up providing no protection.'' 

``The effort to be even-handed all too often has resulted in an actual
undermining of the very religious values which our society originally was
trying to protect through the Constitution and the Bill of Rights,'' Rev.
Diane Kessler, director of the council, said in a statement. 

Attorney General Scott Harshbarger criticized the ruling, and vowed to
replace the law in question with a new one that would withstand such
judicial scrutiny. 

``The Supreme Judicial Court has left working men and women at the mercy of
their employers when they seek to exercise their sincere religious
beliefs,'' Harshbarger said in a statement. ``Based on this ruling, an
unreasonable employer can refuse to grant a Catholic time off for
Christmas, or a Jew time off for the high holidays without fear of
retribution.'' 

Reed, Pielech and representatives from the race track could not immediately
be reached for comment. 

The Governor's Council is expected Wednesday to approve Gov. William F.
Weld's nomination of Wilkins to replace Liacos, who is resigning, as chief
justice. 

San Francisco cross ruled unconstitutional by federal court
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Copyright � 1996 Nando.net
Copyright � 1996 San Francisco Examiner

SAN FRANCISCO (Aug 21, 1996 5:11 p.m. EDT) -- A federal appeals court has
ruled that the 103-foot cross in San Francisco's city-owned Mount Davidson
Park violates the state Constitution's clause forbidding the government from
showing a preference for any religion.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, reversing a trial judge's earlier
decision, ruled Tuesday that the cross violated California's no-preference
clause. This provision of the state Constitution guarantees the "free
exercise and enjoyment of religion without discrimination or preference."

In a similar case, the same court also ruled against a cross at a publicly
owned war memorial in Eugene, Ore., declaring that it violated the U.S.
Constitution's requirement for the separation of church and state.

The Mount Davidson decision overturns a 1992 summary judgment in the city of
San Francisco's favor by U.S. District Judge John Vukasin. He ruled then
that the cross, erected in 1934, had historical and cultural value and did
not project active governmental support for Christianity over other faiths.

Vukasin also noted that although the cross was part of San Francisco's
skyline, it was often invisible because of fog, detracting from its
prominence.

But Tuesday's ruling by a three-judge panel, while acknowledging that the
cross was a well-recognized historical landmark, said it still carried
"great religious significance. ... To suggest otherwise would demean this
powerful symbol."

The Mount Davidson cross's history "is intertwined with its religious
symbolism," wrote Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain for the panel's majority.

As to its visibility, O'Scannlain wrote, "Constitutional guarantees should
not depend on the weather, especially in San Francisco."

The city plans to appeal the decision to the full 9th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals, according to Deputy City Attorney Mara Rosales.

"Basically, we think the trial court was correct in finding that the Mount
Davidson cross was a monument of primarily historical and cultural
significance to San Franciscans today," Rosales said. "It's not what the
city intended in 1933, it's what it means today."

Thomas Steel, an attorney for one of the plaintiffs in the case, said he had
expected a favorable ruling because the court had made a similar decision in
1993 regarding two crosses in San Diego city parks.

"The city has no business displaying the symbol of one particular religion,"
Steel said. "That communicates as preference (for that religion), a clear
violation of the no-preference clause of the California Constitution."

Steel said that almost every cross that had stood permanently (as opposed to
crosses erected during the Christmas season) had been found to communicate a
preference for one religion.

The Mount Davidson cross is in a 40-acre city-owned park and is maintained
by city employees. A copper box inside the foundation of the cross contains
newspaper clippings, telephone directories, two Bibles, two rocks from the
Garden of Gethsemane and a jug of water from the Jordan River.

Until 1987, the cross was frequently illuminated, especially during
Christmas and Easter.

The suit was filed in 1990 by the Rev. Victor Carpenter of First Unitarian
Church, Ronald Y. Nakasone, a Buddhist priest, and Rabbi Allen Bennett of
the American Jewish Congress.

The plaintiffs said they did not object to the cross but to the city's
ownership of it.

Rosales said she was confident another court would agree with Vukasin's
original ruling. The cross, she said, doesn't signify the government's
preference for Christianity any more than the name "San Francisco" does.

"We call ourselves San Franciscans -- the people of St. Francis -- from the
city of St Francis," Rosales said. "Does that mean that we are promoting the
religion of St. Francis? ... I don't see the difference between a cross
and the name of St. Francis."

While this article claims that the choir was "forced" to sing the songs, 
her case was dismissed in state court last September and in Federal 
District Court last November.  She had obtained an injunction preventing 
the songs "Friends" and "The Lord Bless You and Keep You" from being sung 
at graduation, but a student stood up and led the audience in the song 
"Friends" and even though the principal tried to stop it, the choir joined 
in.

See .417

     Six Religious Groups Join Student's Appeal of Song Lawsuit

     By Associated Press, 08/21/96

     SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Six religious groups went to court Wednesday to 
     support a high school student who says her rights were violated when 
     her choir was forced to sing Christian songs.

     A judge dismissed Rachel Bauchman's lawsuit against West High School 
     in September, but she went back to court this year to amend it, saying 
     that choir director Richard Torgerson included songs in the repertoire 
     that promoted religion and that school officials did nothing about it.

     A federal judge dismissed that action as well, so Bauchman, a senior 
     who is Jewish, is appealing to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals 
     in Denver.

     The religious groups filed the friend-of-the-court brief arguing that 
     a public school cannot compel students to participate in the practice 
     of religion or permit a teacher to proselytize.

     ``The public schools in part are a place where you have to be very 
     careful and vigilant in separating church and state,'' said the 
     group's attorney, Colby Smith.  ``Rachel's case was one where the line 
     had been crossed.''

     The school has denied that it or Torgerson, a Mormon, has done 
     anything wrong.  When U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Greene dismissed 
     Bauchman's lawsuit last year, he wrote that despite references to 
     ``God'' and the ``Lord,'' and language reflecting supplication to a 
     deity, the songs were not the equivalent of prayers.

     ``Public schools are not required to delete from the curriculum all 
     materials that may offend any religious sensibility,'' he wrote.

     Bauchman, who no longer is a member of the a cappella choir, seeks no 
     damages but wants to prevent Torgerson from including songs that 
     promote religion.  She also wants to prevent the choir from performing 
     in churches.

     Supporting Bauchman are the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the United 
     Church of Christ, the American Jewish Committee, the General 
     Conference of Seventh Day Adventists, the Anti-Defamation League and 
     the Union of American Hebrew Congregations.

     AP-DS-08-21-96 2339EDT

Church said to lure children for baptism
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Copyright � 1996 Nando.net
Copyright � 1996 The Boston Globe

WOBURN, Mass. (Aug 23, 1996 7:47 p.m. EDT) -- Officials are investigating
allegations that a Woburn church lured housing-project children onto buses
in several communities with promises of games, pizza and a treasure hunt,
but instead brought them to the church to baptize them.

Once inside Woburn's Anchor Baptist Church, state Department of Social
Services sources said Friday, children were asked to remove all their
clothing for the baptism ceremony in which each child was dunked in a small
pool or tub of water.

DSS was also looking into allegations of abuse of an 8-year-old boy by
church members. DSS sources said the boy's therapist reported suspicions of
child abuse during a regular therapy session.

The DSS report is due early next week, spokeswoman Lorraine Carli said.

No charges have been lodged either against church members or their pastor,
Rev. Chris Pledger, police said Friday.

Pledger could not be reached for comment Friday and no one answered the door
to his residence at the church.

Sources said the boy was one of about 200 young people bused in mid-July
from two Cambridge housing developments -- Jefferson Park in North Cambridge
and Newtowne Court near Central Square.

Friday, Ann Fahey, attorney for the Cambridge Housing Authority, said
tenants reported that a bus entered Jefferson Park July 18. "Tenants were
approached to see if they would like to send their children on the bus,
promising games. We heard a flyer was passed out. Tenants then talked with
police."

Stoneham officials also reported complaints from parents that their children
had been approached by church members on July 26.

Frank Pasquarello, spokesman for the Cambridge Police Department, said
Friday that "as of now, Cambridge has no official complaint" against the
church. "Nothing right now is against the law. What we have is the
transporting of children from Cambridge to Woburn. If a crime were committed
in Woburn, it would, then, be up to the Woburn police."

Woburn police Sgt. Robert Scire said the probe into allegations against the
church is ongoing and that the district attorney's office "was aware" of the
charges.

Jill Reilly, spokeswoman for Middlesex County district attorney's office,
said Friday the office was "reviewing" the allegations and is in contact
with police.

Woburn children were bused to the church from the Spring Court Extension and
the Webster Avenue Housing Developments, some five miles apart, according to
Robert McNabb, executive director of the Woburn Housing Authority. "It is
quite a bizarre thing," he said Friday.

On the basis of what he learned from parents and project managers, McNabb
said church members allegedly went to the developments on a bus "wearing
suits and pirate outfits, handed out leaflets to children and offered
prizes. They lured them on the buses with these prizes and the idea of
playing a sports game. From what I understand the children didn't have
permission to go or be baptized by their parents or adult caretakers."

He said the children ranged in age from "very young to teen-age" and that
about 20 of them got on the bus.

"My reports of what happened are that both males and females were brought to
the church and immersed in water. Usually, when there is a religious
sacrament, the parents are there and are the catalyst for bringing the
children to the sacrament."

In Woburn Friday, Nina Gonzalez, 26, a resident at the Spring Court
Extension development, said Pledger and his church members often visited the
development, using candy to entice children to come to services and
activities at the church.

Gonzalez also said church members told her that children could attend church
functions for free, but that parents were required to pay $25 each for each
function they attended. She also said church members promised her son a
bicycle if he invited more friends than any other child to become a member
of the church.

Recently, Gonzalez said she found her son, 6-year-old Derrick Canada, and a
group of neighborhood children walking with members of the church and that
it concerned her.

"All the kids were following those guys like they were the Pied Piper. The
way he was, scared me. What kind of church walks around with candy for
little kids?" Gonzalez said.

   Note that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is the same court that Tuesday
   ruled that crosses in Eugene and San Francisco had to come down.

Court: Serpent sculpture doesn't promote religion

SAN FRANCISCO (23 Aug 96) -- The city of San Jose did not promote or
endorse religion  by installing a 10-ton sculpture of an Aztec serpent god
in a park, a  federal appeals court ruled Friday.

A Christian group that sued the city claimed the plumed serpent 
representing the god Quetzalcoatl violated federal and state constitutions.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco disagreed.

"While there was no question that Quetzalcoatl was at one time a religious 
figure, the parties agreed that ...  a symbol must have current religious 
adherents to be considered religious," Judge Thomas Nelson wrote in the 
court's 3-0 decision.

The United States Justice Foundation argued that the serpent is a religious 
symbol in certain teachings of the current Mormon faith, New Age beliefs 
and a growing spiritual movement among Zapatista revolutionaries in 
southern Mexico.

But the appeals court upheld a U.S. District Court's ruling, saying the 
group failed to make the connection between the serpent, New Age beliefs, 
and the present Mormon religion.

San Jose's art committee proposed the idea of commissioning artist Robert 
Graham to create the sculpture to commemorate Mexican and Spanish 
contributions to the city's culture.

The group sued in November 1994, just before the 8-foot sculpture was 
dedicated at Plaza de Cesar Chavez.

"Nobody who has seen it would say it's a religious symbol," San Jose City 
Attorney Joan Gallo said.  "It's an artist's rendering of a snake."

Thomas Diepenbrock, the foundation's attorney, said no more appeals are 
planned.

                               BAD HAIR DAY?
              "You're a virgin, you've just given birth and now
                        three kings have shown up" 

  poster located at http://bulova.zko.dec.com/group/covert/bad_hair_day.gif

                        Shock early for Christmas 

                 BY RUSSELL JENKINS, The Times of London 

CHURCH leaders are setting out to shock this Christmas with a deliberately 
provocative poster campaign aimed at young non-churchgoers which its 
creators admit will alienate traditionalists.

Passers-by, attracted by the poster's arresting streetwise argot and zany 
line drawing of three cartoon kings, are invited in small print to "find 
out the happy ending at a church near you".

The campaign has provoked a furious row.  The Archbishop of York, Dr David 
Hope, is leading opposition against a message that he believes demeans the 
Christian faith.  The Archbishop of Canterbury has pointedly given only his 
"guarded support" and senior clergy are refusing to use the material.

Dr Hope is said to be "livid" and has written a strongly worded letter to 
the Church of England's communications department with a copy to the 
Archbishop of Canterbury complaining that it is a "step too far" from the 
real meaning of Christmas.

The Rev John Broadhurst, national chairman of the influential Forward In 
Faith group and Bishop-designate of Fulham, said: "It is slick and 
supercilious.  It is about time that trendy liberals realised the world is 
not interested in gimmicks."

The campaign, created by The Churches Advertising Network, is a conscious 
attempt to get away from "authoritarian and preachy" campaigns of previous 
years, to court controversy and "create a media splash".  It is the 
brainchild of an advertising copywriter who works on the Tango adverts.

Its supporters say that the poster is not designed for the faithful but 
aims to use the language of the streets as part of the Church's mission to 
draw non-believers into the fold.

The Churches Advertising Network is sending brochures containing the 
artwork to 40,000 ministers in the Anglican, Roman Catholic and evangelical 
and Baptist churches.  Roadside and bus stop posters, radio adverts, 
T-shirts, flyers, badges, Christmas cards and wrapping paper bearing the 
copy will start appearing next month in the run-up to Christmas.  It is the 
work of Christians in the Media, a group of committed Christians who work 
in the higher echelons of the advertising industry and give their time and 
expertise voluntarily.

Dr Tom Ambrose, vicar of Witchford, in Cambridgeshire, who is the campaign 
co-ordinator, said that this year they set out to provoke discussion among 
congregations.  They wanted to get away from the "safe" campaigns of recent 
years.

He said: "It will be a struggle for some people in the Church to cope with 
this.  We want it to be talked about and the more people who discuss what 
it is about the better."

John Griffiths, a London- based advertising executive who led the group, 
said it was important to adopt a different "tone of voice" and one 
immediately recognisable as everyday speech.

The phrase "bad hair day" � it is transatlantic-speak for a lousy day where 
everything goes wrong � was thoroughly researched.  It is an Americanism 
that was once used in the 1988 cult film Hairspray, directed by John 
Waters, and is now creeping into everyday parlance on Britain.  Television 
commentators used the phrase several times in their commentary on the 
Olympics in Atlanta.

"It is not some bastardised form of street-speak," Mr Griffiths said.  "If 
we had said 'Happy Christmas is wicked or crucial' we could have been 
accused of going for the youth vote with borrowed clothes.  We have not 
simply picked up on a buzz word.  It has integrity.  It is supposed to 
ruffle a few feathers and to unsettle them."

Some dioceses like the new theme.  In Oxford, the youth officer is 
organising "bad hair day" events.  The Bishop of Aston, the Rt Rev John 
Austin, said: "It is a measure of the Church's commitment that they want to 
engage with 16 to 25-year-olds."

    I'll be bold...  I rather like the poster (I say this without seeing
    the artwork, mind you, I'm just going on the words and its intent). 
    8^)

School Officials Still Waiting For Parents To Respond

By Associated Press, 09/05/96

MERRIMACK, N.H. (AP) - Merrimack school officials say they're still waiting 
to hear from parents sending their children to an unapproved religious 
school at the Merrimack Baptist Temple.

If they don't hear by next week they'll refer the matter to the state 
Department of Education, officials said this week.

Superintendent Jim O'Neil said he wrote to four couples last month that 
their children are considered truant while attending the religious school.  
The Rev.  Paul Norwalt opened the school at his church last September.

School officials said they don't believe any of the children are enrolled 
in Merrimack public schools this year, but O'Neil said it's possible some 
are in another approved school, such as home-schooling or a private school, 
without the district's knowledge.

O'Neil said he expects to refer the situation to the state by the end of 
next week without taking any further action.

``The district has met its obligations,'' O'Neil said.  ``The state would 
then decide what to do next.''

After meeting last month, state and local officials acknowledged both have 
a responsibility to deal with the matter but refused to discuss what steps 
they would take if parents continue to send their children to Norwalt's 
school and the pastor continues to avoid the state's approval process for 
private schools.

The yearlong dispute began when Norwalt opened the small school at his 
church seven months after the School Board rejected his proposal to teach 
creationism alongside evolution in the public school district's science 
curriculum.

Citing the constitution, Norwalt insists he does not need any state 
approval for the school, but local and state officials contend the students 
who attended the school for the past year technically have been truant 
because the school had not been approved by the state.

Norwalt has declined to comment.

AP-DS-09-05-96 0900EDT

	I like the poster. I think it's an eye grabber (bad hair day) and will
get people to view it. I'm glad that they are trying new ideas.


Glen

    I've changed my mind... I don't like the poster.  8^)  8^) 

    Middlesex News
    Saturday, January 25, 1997
    Sports
    
    The NFL denied a report it was upset with Packer Reggie White's
    intention of saying a prayer in front of the stadium crowd after the
    game. "The league and people around the country are crying out for us
    to be positive role models," says White. "They don't want us to do the
    things Dennis Rodman does...We've humbled ourselves to a higher being,
    and we want to thank God who gave us the opportunity to do what we
    do..."

 amen

Will the pro-abortion-rights protesters who painted the outlines of
bodies on the courtyard of St. Mary's Cathedral in San Francisco be
charged under the Freedom of Access to Clinics and Religious Sites
Act with defacing Church property?

/john

In the San Francisco area (as well as elsewhere) Catholic Charities is the
largest provider of AIDS patient housing, hospice care, and other social
services such as counseling, foster care and services to immigrants and
the elderly.

However, the Church now finds itself at odds with San Francisco's new
domestic partner ordinance.  The Church's position on marriage is well
known, and the Church will be unable to provide benefits to partners of
unmarried employees as required by the city ordinance.

Archbishop William Levada has requested a religious exemption from the
ordinance, but Mayor Brown has indicated Catholic Charities may lose
$5.6 million in various social services contracts with the city if it
doesn't comply with the ordinance.

The Church cannot comply.  The people of San Francisco will be the losers
if the City refuses to exempt the Church from the ordinance.

/john

	I think in this case there should be a provision for any and all
churches. But I think where the mayor is coming from he knows there are
churches already that will comply. 

  Yes, I'm sure he's aware that there are plenty of churches out there
  who would obey man rather than God, and who place little to no value
  on the Word of God.


 Jim

	Not all churches are christian for one thing......

sheesh.  Go to lunch and all sorts of stuff breaks out.

Most of those notes were hidden because they went down an unedifying rathole.

One of them was hidden because it references homosexuality.  Please recall to
mind two things while discussing the San Francisco municipal policy:

1) We will not discuss homosexuality in this conference, for reasons stated
   in note 2.4

2) The San Francisco municipal policy is not specifically about 
   homosexuality, though that may have had a hand in the passing of the
   policy.  The policy requires companies to provide health care benefits to
   ALL live-in unmarried partners, regardless of gender.

Please confine discussion to issues that are general to this policy, and are
not about homosexuality specifically.

Thank you,

Paul 
[Moderator]