Russia successfully test fired a ballistic missile from a strategic nuclear missile submarine in the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday, a navy spokesman said.
"The strategic nuclear missile submarine Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky... successfully fired a ballistic missile as part of military exercises at a testing range in northern Russia," the spokesman Igor Dygalo told AFP.
The Interfax-AVN news agency reported that the missile was of the new long-range Sineva, or RSM-54 type, acquired for use by the navy last month.
Dygalo declined to confirm this.
The Delta-class submarine used in the test dates from the Soviet era and was designed to attack cities and military installations.
The test firing comes as tensions have increased between Russia and the United States over missile defence.
President Vladimir Putin has angrily hit out at the United States' plans to place missile defence facilities in the Czech Republic and Poland, countries that were once ruled from Moscow, and has said that this could lead to a new Cold War.
The Sineva missile had already been test fired from a submarine at the North Pole last year.
It has a maximum range of 8,300 kilometres (5,200 miles) and can be launched with up to 10 independently targetable warheads ...   more »

They number only eight, but they are the remnant of a community 2,700 years old - the last Jews left in modern Baghdad.
An Anglican clergyman who watches over the tiny Jewish group says they are increasingly desperate and want to leave Iraq for the Netherlands. But Israeli, Dutch and Jewish officials dispute claims by the Rev. Andrew White that the Jews want to leave.
The claims were met with surprise by Dutch officials and by the Dutch Jewish community.
"We have had no official request or visa applications," said Rob Dekker, a Foreign Ministry spokesman.
Michael Jankelowitz, a spokesman for the Jewish Agency in Jerusalem which is responsible for immigration, said none of the eight Jews left in Baghdad has expressed a desire to leave.
Original Source
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DEARBORN, Mich. — When pools of water began accumulating on the floor in some restrooms at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, and the sinks pulling away from the walls, the problem was easy to pinpoint. On this campus, more than 10 percent of the students are Muslims, and as part of ritual ablutions required before their five-times-a-day prayers, some were washing their feet in the sinks.
The solution seemed straightforward. After discussions with the Muslim Students’ Association, the university announced that it would install $25,000 foot-washing stations in several restrooms.
But as a legal and political matter, that solution has not been quite so simple. When word of the plan got out this spring, it created instant controversy, with bloggers going on about the Islamification of the university, students divided on the use of their building-maintenance fees, and tricky legal questions about whether the plan is a legitimate accommodation of students’ right to practice their religion — or unconstitutional government support for that religion.
“It’s an awkward thing,” said Alexis Oesterle, a junior. “If I’m sitting with Muslim friends, I wouldn’t want to bring it up. In this country, at this time, it’s not so easy to discuss the issues of ...   more »

Kenneth R. Timmerman
Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2007
Former CIA Director R. James Woolsey tells NewsMax in an exclusive interview that terrorists could strike the American homeland — possibly with a weapon of mass destruction — this summer or early fall.
He also warns that if Iran fails to comply with international efforts to stop its nuclear weapons program, the U.S. will have no other option than to bomb it.
"I think the threat of a serious attack in the next few months is very real," Woolsey said. A terrorist strike with a dirty bomb or with biological weapons was "a real possibility." [Editor's Note: Special: 6 Days of Hell - The Coming War With Iran. Click here for more.]
Woolsey's comments echo those of FBI Director Robert Mueller, who told NewsMax in May that al-Qaida's paramount goal is clear: to detonate a nuclear device that would kill hundreds of thousands of Americans.
Terrorists Plotting Now
While Woolsey doubted terrorists would be able to acquire a nuclear explosive device, he warned that terrorists were trying to acquire one, either on the black market from the former Soviet Union, or from Iran or North Korea.
The former CIA director said he favored ...   more »

By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
The Chinese government has begun a concerted campaign of economic threats against the United States, hinting that it may liquidate its vast holding of US treasuries if Washington imposes trade sanctions to force a yuan revaluation.
Blog - Dollar to collapse?   
Fistful of dollars - China's trade surplus reached $26.9bn in June 
Two officials at leading Communist Party bodies have given interviews in recent days warning - for the first time - that Beijing may use its $1.33 trillion (£658bn) of foreign reserves as a political weapon to counter pressure from the US Congress.
Shifts in Chinese policy are often announced through key think tanks and academies.
Described as China's "nuclear option" in the state media, such action could trigger a dollar crash at a time when the US currency is already breaking down through historic support levels.
It would also cause a spike in US bond yields, hammering the US housing market and perhaps tipping the economy into recession. It is estimated that China holds over $900bn in a mix of US bonds.
Xia Bin, finance chief at the Development Research Centre (which has cabinet rank), kicked off what now appears to be government policy ...   more »

Jim Brown 
A conservative Idaho lawmaker believes America's founding fathers would not have wanted a Muslim elected to Congress or a Hindu prayer delivered in the U.S. Senate.
Hear this Report
Last month, the U.S. Senate was opened for the first time ever with a Hindu prayer. Although the event generated little outrage on Capitol Hill, Representative Bill Sali (R-Idaho) is one member of Congress who believes the prayer should have never been allowed.
"We have not only a Hindu prayer being offered in the Senate, we have a Muslim member of the House of Representatives now, Keith Ellison from Minnesota. Those are changes -- and they are not what was envisioned by the Founding Fathers," asserts Sali.
Sali says America was built on Christian principles that were derived from scripture. He also says the only way the United States has been allowed to exist in a world that is so hostile to Christian principles is through "the protective hand of God."
"You know, the Lord can cause the rain to fall on the just and the unjust alike," says the Idaho Republican.
According to Congressman Sali, the only way the U.S. can continue to survive is under that protective ...   more »