An upcoming US-sponsored Middle East parley is "a trap set by the Zionists" for regional states, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Sunday evening.
Addressing a cabinet session, the president said the conference, expected to be held in the United States late November, would not serve the interest of the Palestinian nation.
Ahmadinejad's statements were quoted by Iranian news agency IRNA.
Referring to the conference as the 'autumn peace conference', Ahmadinejad cautioned regional countries against being deceived.
"The regional states should be careful not to be trapped by organizers of the conference and not to prepare grounds for enemies to take advantage of such an opportunity for their own ends," he said.
"The Zionist regime is on the verge of collapse and that is why enemies are conducting such a conference to give the regime a chance to refresh its spirit."
"Making any decision about Palestine without the presence of the Palestinian nation will never end up resolving the crisis," Ahmadinejad added.
"The time is over now to decide about the Palestinian nation in their absence. As an international issue, the issue of Palestine should be solved by their direct participation and with their presence."
"Those who established the Zionist regime ...   more »

Ashley Seager
Oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico at sunset.
World oil production has already peaked and will fall by half as soon as 2030, according to a report which also warns that extreme shortages of fossil fuels will lead to wars and social breakdown.
The German-based Energy Watch Group will release its study in London today saying that global oil production peaked in 2006 - much earlier than most experts had expected. The report, which predicts that production will now fall by 7% a year, comes after oil prices set new records almost every day last week, on Friday hitting more than $90 (£44) a barrel.
"The world soon will not be able to produce all the oil it needs as demand is rising while supply is falling. This is a huge problem for the world economy," said Hans-Josef Fell, EWG's founder and the German MP behind the country's successful support system for renewable energy.
The report's author, Joerg Schindler, said its most alarming finding was the steep decline in oil production after its peak, which he says is now behind us.
The results are in contrast to projections from the International Energy Agency, which says there is ...   more »

By Neil Dennis
The dollar hit a record low against the euro on Monday after the weekend G7 summit failed to explicitly address dollar weakness.
In their post-meeting communique G7 finance ministers urged China to let its renminbi appreciate more rapidly, but did not mention dollar weakness, which provided the catalyst for traders to dump the currency.
”The communique did not make any references to the levels of the dollar, euro or yen,” said Sue Trinh at RBC Capital Markets. She added: ”This is, in effect, a green light to sell the dollar.”
After hitting a record $1.4348 against the euro, the dollar later clawed back to trade up 0.2 per cent on the session at $1.4280. Sterling climbed as high as $2.0537 against the dollar.
Japan’s yen hit a six week high of Y113.27 against the dollar, helped by rising aversion to risk after tumbling US equity markets drove the Nikkei 225 more than 2 per cent lower.
The unwinding of risky carry trades, where the low-yielding yen is sold to fund high-yielding purchases, led to hefty losses for the New Zealand and Australian dollars - which are among the highest yielding currencies.
Lee Hardman, currency economist at the ...   more »

By Jeffrey K. Radt
As a Christian, I don’t believe in mere coincidences. After last week’s piece I guess I shouldn’t be surprised whenever this sort of thing happens. Still, it’s funny how one can find inspiration in the most unlikely sources.
The year was 1965. In mid-July of that year, a young man by the name of Barry McGuire released a song that became an instant hit as it reached #1 on the Billboard charts by late September.
The song was titled Eve of Destruction and it was a grave warning about imminent apocalypse and considered by some to be the epitome of a protest song. It expressed the frustrations and fears of young people in the age of the Cold War, Vietnam, the nuclear arms race, and the civil rights movement.
Here we are 42 years later and the world eerily resembles the one he sang about. Was he singing to his contemporaries or was he singing to a future generation? When is a song just a song and when is it perhaps something more?
I watch the world news headlines daily and filter all of it through my Christian worldview. My understanding of Biblical prophecy is what ...   more »

Chuck Baldwin
The Washington Times carried an Associated Press report entitled, "Bob Jones III endorses Mitt Romney." Here are excerpts:
"Bob Jones III, chancellor of the Christian fundamentalist school named for his family, is endorsing Republican Mitt Romney for president.
"Romney's campaign confirmed Jones' endorsement today."
According to the report Jones told a Greenville, South Carolina newspaper that "supporting Romney is critical to make sure former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani doesn't win the GOP nomination and that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton doesn't win the election.
"'If it turns out to be Giuliani and Hillary, we've got two pro-choice candidates, and that would be a disaster,' Jones told The Greenville News for a story on its Web site today."
Jones also said, "As a Christian I am completely opposed to the doctrines of Mormonism. But I'm not voting for a preacher. I'm voting for a president. It boils down to who can best represent conservative American beliefs, not religious beliefs."
Bob Jones' endorsement of the former Massachusetts governor illustrates just how low the Religious Right will go in compromising bedrock principle for the sake of political expediency. Jones says he is supporting Romney so as to help defeat ...   more »