Rice Visits Birthplace of ‘My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ’
  US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice prayed at the Biblical birthplace of Jesus Christ on Wednesday, promoting religion in the quest for Middle East peace during intense diplomacy.
"Being here at the birthplace of my lord and saviour Jesus Christ has been a very special and moving experience," said the top US diplomat, a devout Christian whose father and grandfather were Presbyterian ministers.
Blanket security was clamped across the West Bank town of Bethlehem, whose tourism lifeline has been hard hit by the violence which erupted following the breakdown of the last US-sponsored peace talks.
Armed Palestinian security officers lined the streets as her armoured convoy swept past shuttered shops and practically empty streets as few locals turned out to see the first visit by a US secretary of state in nearly a decade.
Wearing a light green trouser suit, Rice spent about half an hour inside the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, visiting its Greek Orthodox, Armenian and Catholic chapels and the exact spot where Christians believe Christ was born.
She prayed and later emerged, saying her visit had been a personal reminder of the power of ...   more »

The letters, according to DEBKAfile’s Iranian sources, have been posted to Jewish families in Tehran (where the community numbers some 13,000), Isfahan (under 2,000) and Shiraz (some 4,000). They are captioned: Danger! Danger! Danger! and tell recipients to try and reach the West with all possible speed. Iranian Jews like the rest of the population face grave danger from impending events, the anonymous writers warn.
Wednesay, Oct. 17, President George W. Bush spoke of World War Three if Iran which seeks to destroy Israel gains a nuclear bomb. He said those who helped the Islamic Republic would be held responsible, a broad hint at Russia and Chin
The Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert’s sudden trip to Moscow Thursday, Oct. 18, for one day there and back, and the two hours President Vladimir Putin has allotted for their conversation, tie in with these events.
DEBKAfile’s sources report that the meeting was requested by Olmert after he conferred with US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice on the last day of her Middle East shuttle, and with Washington. The prime minister is seeking Putin’s assurance that Russia will not complete construction of Iran’s nuclear reactor at Bushehr or supply the fuel for its ...   more »

by Ezra HaLevi(IsraelNN.com) US President George W. Bush said a nuclear Iran would mean World War III. Israeli newscasts featured Gog & Magog maps of the likely alignment of nations in that potential conflict.
Channel 2 and Channel 10 TV showed the world map, sketching the basic alignment of the two opposing axes in a coming world war, in a manner evoking associations of the Gog and Magog prophecy for many viewers. The prophecy of Gog and Magog refers to a great world war centered on the Holy Land and Jerusalem and first appears in the book of Yechezkel (Ezekiel).
On one side were Israel, the United States, Britain, France and Germany. On the other were Iran, Russia, China, Syria and North Korea.
US President Bush said Wednesday during a press conference that Iran attaining nuclear weapons raises the risk of "World War III."
"If Iran had a nuclear weapon, it'd be a dangerous threat to world peace," Bush said. "So I told people that if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested [in preventing a nuclear Iran]…I take the threat of Iran with a nuclear weapon very seriously.”
Russian President Vladimir ...   more »

WASHINGTON -- A county in southern Virginia closed its 21 schools on Wednesday to clean them to prevent the spread of a dangerous bacterial infection that killed a 17-year-old high school student, officials said.
The student died this week from a drug-resistant staph infection known as Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, which has become a worrisome public health issue nationwide.
Schools in Bedford County were closed to allow officials to carry out a thorough cleaning in an effort to get rid of the bacteria responsible for these infections, according to Charles Pyle, spokesman for the Virginia Department of Education.
The two schools of a small rural district in Rappahannock County in the northern part of the state closed for a day last week for a similar cleaning due to MRSA concerns, Pyle added.
Robert Parker, spokesman for the Virginia Department of Health, said three MRSA outbreaks have been reported so far this year in the state, making 2007 no worse than prior years. "VDH (Virginia Department of Health) considers it to be sort of ubiquitous but not a public health threat any more today than it was yesterday or the day before," Parker said.
Pyle said the state education department ...   more »

Russia's Putin takes on public's questions on US, Iran and country's nuclear capabilities in Moscow's sixth annual presidential-public meet
Dudi Cohen
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday he believes a direct dialogue, rather than continuing Western sanctions, would be more effective in solving the crisis revolving around Iran's nuclear program.  
Putin addressed the question in an annual event held in Moscow, the sixth of its kind so far, where he customarily answers the Russian people's questions regarding matters of State. 
"A direct dialogue with the countries we have disagreements with is always a better, more effective way, to deal with differences than threatening sanctions, or use of force," said Putin.  
Earlier Thursday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denied reports claiming Putin and he discussed the Iranian nuclear program. Putin, said the Iranian president, "offered nothing but friendship and cooperation."  
When asked of his opinions on US moves in Iraq, Putin suggested that the US military campaign in Iraq had turned into a campaign against the Iraqi people.  
Putin was also asked whether or not he thought the US was eyeing Russia's resources: "I know that some politicians play with such ideas in their heads. This, in my ...   more »

We've got a leader in Iran who has announced that he wants to destroy Israel, US president says at White House press conference after Russia cautions against military action against Tehran's suspected atomic program
US President George W. Bush said Wednesday that he had warned world leaders they must prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons "if you're interested in avoiding World War III." 
"We've got a leader in Iran who has announced that he wants to destroy Israel," Bush said at a White House press conference after Russia cautioned against military action against Tehran's suspected atomic program.
"So I've told people that, if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon," said Bush.
'US will continue to work with Russia'
Bush added he was not worried by growing Russian-Iran ties and will continue to work with Russian President Vladimir Putin on ways to defuse Iran's nuclear program.
"He (Putin) recognizes it's not in the world's interests for Iran to have the capacity to make a nuclear weapon, and they have been very supportive in the United Nations," Bush said.  ...   more »

Washington leaders are asking if unfolding events in the Mideast were foretold in the Bible.
By Joel C. Rosenberg
 (Washington, D.C., October 18, 2007) -- Sobering, apocalyptic talk from President Bush yesterday. During a press briefing at the White House, the President was asked about Vladimir Putin's visit with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran and the threat posed by this emerging Russian-Iranian nuclear alliance. The President warned that World War III could break out if Iran gets nuclear weapons.
Here is an excerpt from the official transcript: "I believe that if Iran had a nuclear weapon, it would be a dangerous threat to world peace. We've got a leader in Iran who has announced that he wants to destroy Israel. So I've told people that if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from have the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."
As the President was speaking to reporters at the White House, I had the privilege of speaking to a group of military leaders at the Pentagon on what Putin's historic and unprecedented trip to Iran means, and how Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's eschatology is driving Iranian foreign policy.
The ...   more »

Student health officials say a broad contraceptive program is 'totally needed.'
By KELLEY BOUCHARD Staff Writer
Students who have parental permission to be treated at King
Middle School's health center would be able to get birth control
prescriptions under a proposal that the Portland School
Committee will consider Wednesday.
The proposal would build on the King Student Health Center's
practice of providing condoms as part of its reproductive health
program since it opened in 2000, said Lisa Belanger, a nurse
practitioner who oversees the city's student health centers.
If the committee approves the King proposal, it would be the
first middle school in Maine to make a full range of
contraception available to some students in grades 6 to 8, said
Nancy Birkhimer, director of teen health programs for the Maine
Department of Health and Human Services. Most middle
schoolers are ages 11-13.
Although students must have written parental permission to be
treated at Portland's school-based health centers, state law
allows them to seek confidential health care and to decide
whether to inform their parents about the services they receive,
Belanger said.
Proponents say a small number of King students are sexually
active, but those who are need better access ...   more »

'Public districts no longer are safe environment for children'
By Bob Unruh
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
A call is being issued to Christians who have been engaged in the culture wars in California's schools to abandon the system, after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law a ban on "discriminatory bias" against homosexuals and others with alternative sexual lifestyles.
"We're calling upon every California parent to pull their child out of California's public school system," Randy Thomasson, president of Campaign for Children and Families, told WND.
"The so-called 'public schools' are no longer a safe emotional environment for children. Under the new law, schoolchildren as young as kindergarten will be sexually indoctrinated and introduced to homosexuality, bisexuality, and transsexuality, over the protests of parents, teachers and even school districts," he said.
The law at issue went through the California legislature as SB 777, and now bans in school texts and activities any discriminatory bias against those who have chosen alternative sexual lifestyles, Meredith Turney, legislative liaison for Capitol Resource Institute, said.
There are no similar protections for students with traditional or conservative lifestyles and beliefs, however. Offenders will face the wrath of the state Department of Education, up to and including lawsuits. ...   more »

World Congress of Families condemns promotion of 'polymorphous perversion'
By Bob Unruh
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
An international organization promoting families says California families have no choice but to abandon the public school system after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a new "anti-discrimination" bill into law, effectively making terms like "mom" and dad" obsolete.
As WND has reported, some family advocates in California already had come to the same conclusion as that reached now by the World Congress of Families.
World Congress of Families Global Coordinator Allan Carlson said the measure, SB 777, is "a blatant attack on the natural family orchestrated by the alternative-lifestyles lobby."
The exodus call had been issued just one day earlier by Randy Thomasson, president of Campaign for Children and Families. "We're calling upon every California parent to pull their child out of California's public school system," he told WND.
"The so-called 'public schools' are no longer a safe emotional environment for children. Under the new law, schoolchildren as young as kindergarten will be sexually indoctrinated and introduced to homosexuality, bisexuality, and transsexuality, over the protests of parents, teachers and even school districts," he said.
The law at issue went through the California legislature as SB 777, ...   more »

By Stan Goodenough
The head of the Likud Party's foreign relations department gave a massive boost to the claims of Islam - Israel's most implacable enemy - Tuesday when he inferred that Jerusalem's Temple Mount was not sacred to the Jewish people.
The Temple Mount is the Jewish people's holiest site.
Arab and other Muslim leaders and clerics, who assert that the hill is Islam's third holiest site, have long and fiercely maintained that the Jews have no historical connection or claim to the outcrop the Bible calls God's "holy hill."
While secular Jews often appear content to limit their "right" to the Western Wall, Israelis who have the fear of the Lord and who know that their nation's First and Second Temples were built on top of the mount will not agree to relinquishing it to the followers of another god.
Zalman Shoval, a former ambassador to the United States, and traditionally a right thinker on Israeli security issues, told a meeting of the Foreign Press Association that the Likud - which is led by former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu - could allow an Arab or Muslim country to administer the site for the sake of securing peace for ...   more »