by Joe Velarde
"Get the Spanish boy, and hurry." That was me.
Snow came early in the winter of 1933 when our extended Cuban family moved into the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. I was ten years old. We were the first Spanish speakers to arrive, yet we fit more or less easily into that crowded, multicultural neighborhood. Soon we began learning a little Italian, a few Greek and Polish words, lots of Yiddish and some heavily accented English.
I first heard the expression "Shabbos is falling" when Mr. Rosenthal refused to open the door of his dry goods store on Bedford Avenue. My mother had sent me with a dime to buy a pair of black socks for my father. In those days, men wore mostly black and Navy blue. Brown and gray were somehow special and cost more. Mr. Rosenthal stood inside the locked door, arms folded, glaring at me through the thick glass while a heavy snow and darkness began to fall on a Friday evening. "We're closed, already," Mr. Rosenthal had said, shaking his head, "can't you see that Shabbos is falling? Don't be a nudnik! Go home." I could feel the cold wetness covering my head ...   more »

Syrian foreign minister says Damascus is ready to renew peace talks with Israel without preconditions, al-Hayat newspaper reports
Syria's Foreign Minister Walid Moallem reiterated his country's interest in renewing peace talks with Israel without preconditions, the London-based al-Hayat newspaper reported Wednesday.  
"Syria is more than ready to renew peace talks with Israel, without preconditions by either side," Moallem was quoted as telling a senior European diplomat.
Changed Atmosphere   
UN Mideast envoy: Israeli attitude towards Syria changed / Associated Press  
Special coordinator Michael Williams visits Damascus, says atmosphere in Israel changed regarding possible peace with Syria
Moallem also said that Israel would find in Syria a serious "peace partner" should it chose to revive peace talks with Damascus.
Israel shunned repeated peace overtures by Syria in recent years, calling on Damascus to stop supporting Hizbullah and Hamas and to sever its ties with Iran to prove it is serious about peace.  
The paper quoted Moallem as saying the his country expects the newly appointed Defense Minister Ehud Barak to press Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to renew peace talks with Syria.  
"With Barak we will not start from zero because he is familiar with the details of ...   more »

By Aaron Klein

Arab squatters are living illegally in this strategic Jewish-owned apartment complex
JERUSALEM – Arab squatters are living illegally in a strategic Jewish-owned apartment complex accessing an entrance leading to Jerusalem's Western Wall and Temple Mount, WND has learned.
The apartment in question was purchased by a Jewish organization that collects hundreds of millions of dollars in Jewish donor funds for the stated purpose of Jewish settlement.
The Jewish National Fund, or JNF, seemingly has done little to boot the Arab squatters from its property and has turned down offers from other Jewish groups to purchase the strategic apartment for Jews to live in.
The apartment in question is located just inside Herod's Gate, one of eight gates that access Jerusalem's Old City and the walkways to the Western Wall and Temple Mount. The property is about 3,300 square feet and is considered strategic since it comprises the archway accessing the path in the area to the Temple Mount.
The apartment is in the Old City neighborhood known as the Muslim Quarter, which was once a Jewish and Muslim neighborhood but became mostly Muslim after deadly anti-Jewish riots broke out in 1929 over access to the Western Wall. ...   more »

Kobi Nahshoni
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has been gearing up for an Israeli offensive in recent months, is bound to be surprised by the peace feelers he is set to receive from Jerusalem soon.  
Animal Sacrifice  
'Renew animal sacrifices on Mount' says radical rabbi / Yaakov Lappin  
Member of Sanhedrin says sacrifices 'were not possible when the people of Israel were in the Diaspora, but now they are.' Adds: Jerusalem Temple should be rebuilt, Israeli government standing in our way    
Without Saudi mediation or diplomatic procedures, the president will get a “Letter of Love and Peace”, accompanied by a historic invitation to visit Jerusalem, from The Supreme Judicial Court of the Jewish People, better known as the Sanhedrin.  
After having tried their luck with the High Court of Justice and the government, the members of the Jewish group have set out on a new track in their struggle for the Temple Mount, aimed at rebuilding the Temple in the Jewish capital.  
In recent days, the group members have drafted a letter that will be translated into 70 languages and sent to all government institutions in the world, including “the sons of Esau and ...   more »

JERUSALEM: Thousands of police deployed across Jerusalem on Thursday to head off violence as a tiny Gay Pride parade began, sparking a counter-demonstration by ultra-Orthodox Jews and denunciations by Muslim and Christian leaders.
The annual gay rally highlights the deep divide between the city's secular and religious communities, with marchers demanding to exercise their civil rights and opponents claiming the march debases the Holy City. Opposition to the march has generated violence in the past, and the 7,000 police far outnumbered the several hundred marchers.
Carrying multicolored balloons, the gay marchers set off for their short trek, a few hundred meters (yards) along a street that passes in front of the historic King David hotel. A gathering at the end of the truncated route was canceled, Channel 10 TV reported.
"I am demanding my civil rights, including the right get married and have children," said marcher Guy Frishman, 27. "I want to have rights like every other person."
Several hundred ultra-Orthodox protesters held their demonstration in another part of Jerusalem, bringing traffic to a standstill at the entrance to the city. Trash bins were set on fire, and smoke and the stench of burning garbage wafted through the air.
Today ...   more »

 Iran-Libya-Davoudi
First Vice President Parviz Davoudi said on Wednesday that the Islamic Republic of Iran and Libya have common and close view points on regional and international issues.
Speaking to reporters, prior to seeing off ceremony for Libyan Prime Minister al-Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi, he said the two sides exchanged views on current developments in the Middle East region and the entire world.
He said that Tehran and Tripoli could adopt closer stand in dealing with regional developments.
Davoudi said the two sides also reviewed latest developments in Iraq and called for forging unity between Muslims and avoiding factional disputes between the Shia and Sunni Muslims.
He said withdrawal of occupiers is the only solution to Iraq's problem, adding that Tehran and Tripoli support the Iraqi territorial integrity.
Deeply rooted ties between Iran and Libya along with all-out cooperation would leave significant impacts on regional and international cooperation, he said.
Describing the current visit of the Libyan delegation to Iran as fruitful, he said the two sides are determined to broaden all-out ties.
Iran and Libya could have constructive cooperation in Latin America and African continent relying on their capabilities and potentialities, Davoudi said.
The Libyan premier arrived in Tehran Tuesday night ...   more »

MOSCOW: Russia's foreign minister warned Washington on Thursday that U.S. refusal to accept a Russian proposal of a joint missile defense would strengthen Moscow's belief that the prospective American missile shield is directed against Russia. He called the current state of relations "alarming."
Sergey Lavrov strongly urged the United States to embrace Russian President Vladimir Putin's proposal to jointly use a Russian-rented radar installation in Azerbaijan.
"If the United States rejects our initiative, we shall become firmer in our opinion that the underlying reason is not a threat from Iran," Lavrov said, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency.
Putin made the proposal after months of bitter criticism of the U.S. missile defense plans. He dismissed U.S. claims that missile interceptors in Poland and a radar station in the Czech Republic were intended to counter a potential missile threat from Iran, describing them as a threat to Russia. He warned that he could respond by aiming nuclear missiles at U.S. allies in Europe.
Putin made the proposal to jointly use the huge Soviet-built radar station in northeastern Azerbaijan when he met with U.S. President George W. Bush earlier this month on the sidelines of the Group of Eight leading industrialized nations ...   more »

States "In one form or another, all religions violate the rights of children."
By Peter J. Smith
NEW YORK, June 18, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Religious education is a form of child abuse and violates the rights of children, contends a thesis to be considered by secular humanists at the Center for Inquiry's congress in Beijing this October.
The Center for Inquiry, an organisation recently awarded special consultative status as an NGO at the United Nations (UN) will consider the proposals of Innaiah Narisetti, the chairman of the Center for Inquiry's India chapter, that portend the next stage in the assault on the rights of parents to educate their children.
Nasiretti called the influence of religion a "severe shortcoming in the global campaign to protect children" and a contributor to child abuse saying, "In one form or another, all religions violate the rights of children."
"Such abuse begins with the involuntary involvement of children in religious practices from the time they are born," says Narisetti. "All religions, through ritual, preaching, and religious texts, seek to bring children into day-to-day religious practice."
"This gives holy books and scriptures, as well as those who teach them, an early grip on the developing minds ...   more »

The mud at the bottom of B.C. fjords reveals that solar output drives climate change - and that we should prepare now for dangerous global cooling
R. TIMOTHY PATTERSON, Financial Post
Published: Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Politicians and environmentalists these days convey the impression that climate-change research is an exceptionally dull field with little left to discover. We are assured by everyone from David Suzuki to Al Gore to Prime Minister Stephen Harper that "the science is settled." At the recent G8 summit, German Chancellor Angela Merkel even attempted to convince world leaders to play God by restricting carbon-dioxide emissions to a level that would magically limit the rise in world temperatures to 2C.
The fact that science is many years away from properly understanding global climate doesn't seem to bother our leaders at all. Inviting testimony only from those who don't question political orthodoxy on the issue, parliamentarians are charging ahead with the impossible and expensive goal of "stopping global climate change." Liberal MP Ralph Goodale's June 11 House of Commons assertion that Parliament should have "a real good discussion about the potential for carbon capture and sequestration in dealing with carbon dioxide, which has tremendous potential for improving ...   more »

CBNNews.com - This week, the State Department released its annual "Trafficking in Persons" report.
Officials say human trafficking affects every country, even the United States, and it's a problem everyone must try to fight.
Corruption, increased demand for labor, and the globalization of foreign economies are all factors of what the government calls modern-day slavery.
Victims of trafficking include forced labor workers, child soldiers, and millions of women and young children sold into prostitution.
Countries with the worst human trafficking include American allies in the Middle East such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Kuwait.
However, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice praised Georgia, Hungary, Slovenia, Israel, Taiwan, Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, and Jamaica for making "major improvements."
Speaking at a news conference in Washington, D.C., Rice told reporters they would see "disturbing evidence in this report that prosecutions have levelled off everywhere."
"This cannot and must not be tolerated," Rice said.
"You can be involved in victim assistance effort," Director Mark Lagon, United States Department of State Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. "You can write your member of Congress to insist that this effort get the energy that it deserves. Twenty-eight people are following the United States, we've ...   more »