By Shahar Ilan, Haaretz Correspondent 
Likud officials on Monday called for Shas and Yisrael Beitenu to immediately withdraw from the coalition in response to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's "declared intention" to divide Jerusalem.
The prime minister, along with Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beitenu party, is known to support relinquishing "fringe neighborhoods" in the eastern part of Jerusalem. Shas, by contrast, has made it clear that should the question of Jerusalem's unity come up for discussion, the coalition's survivability would be far from certain.
Earlier Monday, Olmert questioned whether Arab neighborhoods in East Jerusalem should be defined as part of Israel's capital. 
"Was it necessary to include Shuafat refugee camp, Arab al-Suwahara and Walajeh as part of Jerusalem? I admit, there are some legitimate questions to be asked about that," Olmert told the Knesset plenum in Jerusalem, during a commemorative session for slain minister Rehavam Ze'evi, who was assassinated six years ago.
Olmert's words, which hinted that Israel may be willing to divide the hotly-disputed city, comprised the first formal statement on the subject. Olmert's reference was made against the backdrop of a heated discussion within the ranks of his party, Kadima, on the question of dividing Jerusalem.
Olmert's deputy, Haim Ramon, ...   more »

By David Yong and Wes Goodman
Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Japan, China and Taiwan sold U.S. Treasuries at the fastest pace in at least five years in August as losses linked to U.S. subprime mortgages sparked a slump in the dollar.
Japan cut its holdings by 4 percent to $586 billion, the most since a new benchmark for the data was created in March 2000, Treasury Department figures published yesterday showed. China's ownership of U.S. government bonds fell by 2.2 percent to $400 billion, the fastest pace since April 2002. Taiwan's slid 8.9 percent to $52 billion, the most since October 2000.
Asia's dumping of Treasuries exacerbated the biggest sell- off in U.S. financial assets since Russia defaulted in 1998. The dollar has declined 7 percent this year to a record low against the euro, and 6.5 percent against a basket of six major world currencies as the Federal Reserve cut interest rates last month to limit a housing market slump.
``People are concerned about the U.S. dollar falling,'' said Hiromasa Nakamura, who helps oversee the equivalent of $25.7 billion at Mizuho Asset Management Co. in Tokyo. ``The Fed will continue to cut rates and the dollar may fall for ...   more »

Chuck Baldwin
"Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition." (II Thess. 2:3)
This passage of Scripture has been one of the most subjectively interpreted verses of the entire New Testament. Early Christians believed various Caesars to be the predicted "man of sin." During the Dark Ages and into the Reformation age, many Christians believed various popes to be the predicted "man of sin." In Arabia around 600 AD, many Christians believed Mohammed to be the "man of sin." During our War for Independence, many Christians believed old King George to be the "man of sin." During the Twentieth Century, many Christians wondered if Hitler or Stalin could be the dreaded "man of sin." Today, many Christians (including this writer) believe that the predicted "man of sin" is none other than a coming Antichrist.
However, regardless of one's interpretation of who the "man of sin" is, there is no doubt about Paul's prediction that before this man comes, there will be a great "falling away first." By "a falling away," Paul was clearly referring to a ...   more »

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Russian leader Vladimir Putin met his Iranian counterpart Tuesday and implicitly warned the U.S. not to use a former Soviet republic to stage an attack on Iran. He also said nations shouldn't pursue oil pipeline projects in the area if they weren't backed by regional powers.
At a summit of the five nations that border the inland Caspian Sea, Putin said none of the nations' territory should be used by any outside countries for use of military force against any nation in the region. It was a clear reference to long-standing rumors that the U.S. was planning to use Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic, as a staging ground for any possible military action against Iran.
"We are saying that no Caspian nation should offer its territory to third powers for use of force or military aggression against any Caspian state," Putin said.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also underlined the need to keep outsiders away from the Caspian. 
"All Caspian nations agree on the main issue - that all aspects related to this sea must be settled exclusively by littoral nations," he said. "The Caspian Sea is an inland sea and it only belongs ...   more »

Judi McLeod  
Islamberg, British style
 By Judi McLeod
The North American radical Islamist compounds exposed by The Day of Islam author Paul L. Williams and Northeast Intelligence Network director Doug Hagmann also exist in Britain.
In the United States, Muslims of the Americas Inc., a tax-exempt organization formed in 1980 by Pakistani cleric Sheikh Mubarak Ali Gilani, who refers to himself as “the sixth Sultan Ul Faqr”, operates dozens of radical Islamic compounds, which flourish in out-of-the-way rural areas.
Gilani has been directly linked by court documents to Jamaat ul-Fuqra or “community of the impoverished”, an organization that seeks to “purify” Islam through violence.
No small potatoes in the world of radical Islam, Gilani has rubbed shoulders with various members of the terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah, their mullah backers, and even Osama bin Laden himself.  He has trained fighters for the battlefields of Kashmir, Chechnya and Bosnia.  Gilani was in Pakistani custody for the abduction of U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl, but was released.
“Terror camp leader Atilla Ahmet sang a “Jihad Calypso” song to a children’s party, telling them, “Come Mr. Taliban, come and bomb England”, a court heard.  Atilla Ahmet, who has already pleaded guilty to soliciting ...   more »

By NICK PISA 
This fiery figure is being hailed as Pope John Paul II making an appearance beyond the grave.
The image, said by believers to show the Holy Father with his right hand raised in blessing, was spotted during a ceremony in Poland to mark the second anniversary of his death.
Details appeared on the Vatican News Service, a TV station in Rome which specialises in religious news broadcasts.
Service director Jarek Cielecki, a Polish priest and close friend of John Paul II, travelled to Poland after hearing an onlooker had photographed the image.
Father Cielecki said he was convinced the picture showed the former pontiff.
"You can see the image of a person in the flames and I think it is the servant of God, Pope John Paul II," he said.
The pictures were being broadcast continuously on Italian TV and also posted on religious websites, some of which crashed as thousands logged on to see for themselves the eerie figure formed by the flames.
The bonfire was lit during a service at Beskid Zywiecki, close to John Paul's birthplace at Katowice, southern Poland, on April 2 - the second anniversary of his death.
Hundreds had attended the ...   more »

By Emma Thomasson
Does service with a scowl put you off at lunch? Will you eat more greens if you are surrounded by plants? Does romantic, pink lighting encourage you to linger over your fruit salad?
A new research centre -- dubbed the "restaurant of the future" -- at the Dutch university of Wageningen hopes to help answer these questions and more by tracking diners with dozens of unobtrusive cameras and monitoring their eating habits.
"We want to find out what influences people: colors, taste, personnel. We try to focus on one stimulus, like light," said Rene Koster, head of the Center for Innovative Consumer Studies, as overhead bulbs switched through green, red, orange and blue.
"This restaurant is a playground of possibilities. We can ask the staff to be less friendly and visible or the reverse," he said. "The changes must be small. If you were making changes every day it would be too disruptive. People wouldn't like it."
The stylish new facility has glass walls, black marble countertops, a polished bamboo floor and self-service tills which allow diners to scan their lunch while they and their trays are weighed by a set of scales built into the floor....   more »

Defense minister scheduled to meet with high-ranking officials in Bush administration as Washington boosts efforts to ensure his support of the Annapolis conference
WASHINGTON - Defense Minister Ehud Barak touched down in New York on Monday and kicked-off his round of meetings with US officials with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, a close advisor to US President George W. Bush on international affairs.
Barak's first official meeting will take place on Tuesday morning after a visit to the Arlington National Cemetery, where the defense minister will lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns. From there he will head to the Pentagon for a meeting with US Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
On Wednesday Barak will meet with Vice President Dick Cheney and the day after with National Security Advisor Steven Hadley.
Washington officials have expressed a great deal of interest in Barak's visit and are keen on hearing his opinions on the civil war in Iraq and the nuclear power crisis in Iran. The administration is also hoping he voices a favorable outlook on the potential of the upcoming peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland. The success or failure of which would greatly reflect on the standing of the ...   more »