BEREL WEIN
A number of years ago I visited San Diego, California to deliver a lecture at a local synagogue. On the next day, I prevailed upon my friend and colleague, the rabbi of the synagogue to accompany me across the US-Mexican border to visit Tijuana. Ignoring the advice of the rabbi that the visit was not worth the time I insisted in doing so anyway. The rabbi was right. Tijuana was vastly disappointing. But on the way back, crossing into the United States from Mexico an incident occurred that has remained stamped in my memory ever since.
The burly Mexican American customs officer at the border examined my passport and paused. He then asked me in awe and wonderment: "Do you really live in Jerusalem?"
When I answered affirmatively he looked at me and said: "How blessed you must be to be able to live in Jerusalem."
It was a moment of transcendent revelation to me. Truly, I should feel fortunate and blessed to live in Jerusalem. The customs officer confirmed a truism to me that, like other truisms in life, I sometimes tend not to remember and concentrate on.
I live in a very special place at a ...   more »

Condoleezza Rice talks with her Spanish counterpart Miguel Angel Moratinos at the NATO meeting in Brussels on Friday. (AP)
Livni, at NATO: There is no doubt Iran is seeking nuclear arms  
By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent and The Associated Press  
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said at a conference of NATO ministries in Brussels on Friday that she had no doubt that Iran continues to pursue its attainment of nuclear weapons.
"There are the old-fashioned threats coming from states like Iran - a dangerous regime based on an extreme religious ideology and speaks clearly about its vision of wiping a state off the map, denies the Holocaust, works with radical elements in order to undermine other regimes in the region and financing terrorist organizations - while simultaneously tries to achieve nuclear weapons" Livni said.
"Have no mistakes - This is the Iranian goal - this is the purpose of the continuous enrichment program - in clear violation of the NPT [Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty] and Security Council resolutions. There is not, and there should not be any dispute on this," the foreign minister continued.
Livni was speaking several days after the release of the U.S. National Intelligence Estimate, which found Iran halted ...   more »

Tehran still desires nuclear weapon, deputy director of US National Intelligence tells Congressional committee. Meanwhile increased diplomatic efforts ensure EU, NATO will continue to support sanctions. Germany, France: 'Iran continues to pose threat'
News agencies 
Iran retains key nuclear capabilities despite having frozen weapons development in 2003, and its ambitions cannot be considered benign, a senior US spy official told Congress on Thursday.
The deputy director of National Intelligence, Donald Kerr, told a House of Representatives Intelligence subcommittee that there was reason to believe Iran still wanted an ability to make nuclear weapons. 
He was responding to a Republican lawmaker who questioned the accuracy of an official National Intelligence Estimate this week that said US agencies did not know whether Iran intended to develop a nuclear weapon. 
But Iran still had the "most important" component of a future program, a uranium-enrichment plant, Kerr told the panel. That and Iran's civil nuclear power program can provide important expertise. Iran also was working on ballistic missiles, he said. 
"We did not in any way suggest that Iran was benign for the future," Kerr told the panel. "What we had to do was address the evidence we had, that at least a part ...   more »

lam, Iran - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday that Islamic republic still seeks at least 50,000 uranium- enriching centrifuges in order to provide fuel for its nuclear power plants in the future.
'We need at least 50,000 centrifuges in order to realize our aim of producing our own nuclear fuel,' Ahmadinejad said in a speech in Galavizan sports in the western provincial capital city of Ilam.
In September, Ahmadinejad said Iran had reached a key point of its nuclear drive by installing 3,000 uranium-enriching centrifuges which were all operational.
Experts say 3,000 centrifuges could make enough enriched uranium for an atomic bomb in about a year if they were operating properly for long periods at supersonic speeds.
The United Nations Security Council has passed two resolutions calling on Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment activities.
While the West suspects Tehran of actively pursuing nuclear weapons, Tehran insists it is for peaceful purposes aiming at producing electricity.
'We have not given in to any suspension of uranium enrichment and it was great work by Iranian nation to resist the big powers for a long time,' Ahmadinejad said in defiance of world powers.
Rejecting the UN demands, Iran calls the ...   more »

Middle-East
Police probe three Israeli journalists who visited enemy countries without receiving permission    6/12/07 16:35Two Palestinian youths planning a bombing attack in Israel nabbed by Shin Bet    6/12/07 14:06IDF reservists refuse to particiapte in drill in protests of base conditions    6/12/07 14:03Tne New York Times - The Us intelligence report on Iran's nuclear program in 2003 based on Iranian notes    6/12/07 13:07US Vice President Cheney says US will not change policy toward Iran in lieu of recent report    6/12/07 13:04Bashara suspected of spying for Hizbullah received $390,000 from money changer    6/12/07 08:44Karnit Goldwasser at Hannukah candle lighting ceremony in Latroun - "we are still in the dark"    6/12/07 08:41Israel and Palestinians launch joint investigation to probe Bethlehem incident in which Palestinian policeman was killed    5/12/07 22:15Sderot home suffers direct hit from Kassam rocket, several people treated for shock    5/12/07 22:13One Palestinian policeman killed in Bethlehem in clashes between undercover Border Police and Palestinian security forces
moreIn an effort to expand its military presence in the international arena and reestablish a naval presence in the Middle East, Russia has dispatched a naval fleet to the region, including a guided missile cruiser, two anti submarine ships and 47 fighter planes. The fleet ...   more »

MOSCOW, December 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russia increased production of weaponry and military equipment by almost 25% in 2007, year on year, a first deputy prime minister said Friday.
"Production of military equipment increased by 23.1% in 2007, compared with last year," Sergei Ivanov said at a meeting dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the Military-Industrial Commission.
He said the defense industry has increased overall annual production by 15.6% in 2007 compared with 2006, while production of military aircraft grew by 39.1%, electronics by 34.7% and conventional arms by 73.9%.
"We will continue increasing production in the defense sector, as we have sufficient funds to do so," Ivanov said, adding that Russia had allocated $189 billion for the 2007-2010 armaments program.
However, Ivanov said Russia had no plans to increase production of Topol-M (SS-27) ballistic missiles, as the annual output of six-seven missiles was sufficient to ensure Russia's national security.
"We do not need to produce 30 Topol-Ms annually," the first deputy PM said. "Not everything is measured by numbers."
As of December 2006, Russia's Strategic Missile Forces operated 44 silo-based and three mobile Topol-M missile systems. Russia's Defense Ministry earlier said several dozen silo launchers and over 50 Topol-M ...   more »

MOSCOW -- Russia said Wednesday that it would start its first major naval operation in the Mediterranean Sea since Soviet times, the latest move by an increasingly assertive Moscow to demonstrate its military might.
"The aim of the sorties is to ensure a naval presence in tactically important regions of the world ocean," Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov told President Vladimir V. Putin, who wished the sailors well. The rest of the meeting was closed.
Serdyukov said an aircraft carrier and 10 other ships would take part, backed up by 47 aircraft, including strategic bombers.
Serdyukov said the navy's flagship aircraft carrier, the Adm. Kuznetsov, and anti-submarine ships sailed Wednesday for the Mediterranean from the Northern Fleet's base in Severomorsk, in the Arctic Circle.
Black Sea fleet ships and aircraft are to meet them in the Mediterranean. He said that military exercises would be conducted and that the group would visit six countries, which he did not name.
Original Source   more »

Moscow, December 6, Interfax - If European nations abandon their Christian roots, they are doomed to disappear from the historical arena, Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia said.
"Modern Europe will not create a new post-Christian culture and civilization but will simply vanish from history," Alexy II said at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow on Wednesday evening.
"Losing their Christian roots, the people of Europe will sign their own death warrant," he said.
Alexy II recalled that he talked about "the need to preserve moral Christian values," without which "it is hard to imagine European culture and Europe itself," in his speech at the PACE in October this year.
Original Source
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By Tal Davis 
EDITOR'S NOTE: The following information is adapted from the North American Mission Board's www.4truth.net apolgetics website.
ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP)--The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS or Mormon church) professes to be a Christian church. However, a careful comparison of basic doctrinal positions of that church to those of historical, biblical Christianity reveal many radical differences. This comparison utilizes Mormon doctrines as stated in LDS authoritative primary sources and those of historic Christianity as derived solely from the Bible.
THE DOCTRINE OF GOD:
-- Historic Christianity
The one God is a Spirit who is the personal, eternal, infinite Creator of all that exists. He is the only God and necessary for all other things to exist. He exists eternally as a Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (see Deut. 6:4; Isa. 43:10; 44:6-8; Matt. 28:19; John 4:24; 17:3)
-- Mormonism
God (Heavenly Father) is an exalted man with a physical body of flesh and bone. LDS founder Joseph Smith said, "If the veil were rent today, and the great God who holds this world in its orbit, and who upholds all worlds and all things by his power, was to make himself visible -- I say, ...   more »

 by Michael Foust
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--In what some are calling groundbreaking research, a new four-year study concludes it is possible for homosexuals to change their physical attractions and become heterosexual through the help of Christian ministries.
The data was released Sept. 13 at a news conference in Nashville, Tenn., and is published in the new book, "Ex-Gays?" (InterVarsity Press) by psychologists Stanton L. Jones and Mark A. Yarhouse. Thirty-eight percent of the subjects followed in the study said they had successfully left homosexuality, while an additional 29 percent said they had had only modest successes but were committed to keep trying. In another significant finding, Jones and Yarhouse said attempts at conversion do not appear to be psychologically harmful.
Experts in the field call it the first scientific study performed on a sample of individuals undergoing Christian counseling, monitoring their successes and failures from the beginning. A follow-up study is being conducted and will be released in the future.
"These findings contradict directly the commonly expressed views of the mental health establishment that change in sexual orientation is impossible, and that if you attempt to change it's highly likely to produce harm for those who make such an attempt," Jones, ...   more »

Jerusalem Post's Caroline Glick added to roster of experts at Dallas event
Caroline Glick 
Amid increasing confusion over Iran's nuclear weapons capacity, organizers of an anti-terrorism conference open to the public announced the addition of Jerusalem Post editor Caroline Glick to its roster of leading experts on the threat of radical Islam.
Glick, the paper's deputy managing editor, will address the Feb. 2 conference in Dallas with a talk titled, "Assessing the Iranian Threat to Global Security."
A newly released National Intelligence Estimate says Iran stopped its nuclear weapons program in 2003, but Israeli intelligence officials and former U.N. ambassador John Bolton are among the analysts who have questioned the report.
Other speakers include Robert Spencer, Frank Gaffney and David Schippers, who will discuss the Islamic terrorist connection to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and its relevance to the country's current security.
Open to anyone who wants to "learn the truth," "Exposing the Threat of Radical Islamist Terrorism" is part of a continuing series organized by America's Truth Forum, which provides registration details on its website.
The event will be held at Ranch of the Lonesome Dove in Southlake, Texas, which is minutes from the Dallas-Fort Worth airport. A VIP ...   more »

Moscow, Dec 6 (RIA Novosti) Russia's navy has resumed its continual presence in various regions of the world's oceans, Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov told President Putin at a meeting in the Kremlin.
'There are plans to dispatch ships to the northeast Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea that will remain there till Feb 3, 2008. The expedition is aimed at ensuring naval presence and establishing conditions for safe Russian navigation,' Serdyukov told President Vladimir Putin Wednesday.
The minister said an aircraft-carrying heavy cruiser, two anti-submarine ships and a tanker left for the Mediterranean Wednesday, where they will be joined by a Black Sea Fleet missile cruiser and a tanker.
Serdyukov said a total of four warships and seven other vessels of Russia's Northern, Black Sea and Baltic fleets, as well as 47 planes and 10 helicopters, have been dispatched for the mission. Three exercises, involving the vessels and aircraft, are being planned.
In mid-August, Putin announced the resumption of strategic patrol flights, saying that although the country halted long-distance strategic flights to remote regions in 1992 with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the ensuing economic and political chaos, other nations had continued the practice, compromising Russian national security.
Russia's ...   more »