Jordan's King Abdullah II on Sunday called for an acceleration of his kingdom's nuclear energy program in order to decrease the nation's dependence on imported energy, reported the Petra news agency.
Jordanian energy chief Khaled al-Shraydeh recently announced that the country possesses more than enough processed and raw uranium to fuel the nuclear program.
Jordan joins Egypt and six Persian Gulf states that also recently launched peaceful nuclear programs.
Analysts have expressed concern that has Iran's nuclear program advances, nuclear programs in Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia could become military in nature in order to counter the Iranian threat. If that happens, future, less stable regimes in Amman, Cairo and Riyadh could be in possession of devastating weapons of mass destruction.
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New government bunker designed to withstand nuclear attack will house Prime Minister's Office, military commands centers. Project to be completed by 2011
Ofer Petersburg
Construction on the new National Command Center, where the country's leaders would be rushed to, should Israel suffer a nuclear attack, is rapidly progressing, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Monday.  
The $240 million underground bunker is designed to withstand a nuclear bomb and will house the Prime Minister's Office, military commands centers and the necessary civil authorities.  
"It's like something out of a movie… you walk around it in complete awe, knowing this is the place they'll be running the country from" a government source told Ynet.  
The bunker was carved into one of the Jerusalem's mountains. A guarded tunnel – designed to allow two trucks to ride side by side – leads into the mountain, giving a peek into would-be engine rooms and air- conditioning system centers on the way. 
At an undisclosed depth lays a series of halls, dozens of feet high, where the official offices, quarters and emergency exits will be built.  
Four of the world's leading construction companies have come together to build the bunker. All those involved in the ...   more »

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon remains comatose and attached to a respirator nearly two years after a devastating stroke, a spokesman for Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv said Sunday.
"There is no change in his condition," hospital spokesman David Weinberg said. Sharon, 79, was transferred to Sheba's long-term respiratory rehabilitation unit in July 2006 from Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, which treated him after his stroke in January of that year.
Since Sharon's stroke, he has undergone three brain operations, abdominal surgery and three minor surgical procedures.
Under established Jewish legal codes, it is forbidden to do anything to hasten death. But other teachings say it is permissible to remove an "impediment" standing in the way of the natural end of life, such as a feeding tube or respirator. Rabbis remain deeply divided over what constitutes an unreasonable obstacle to death.
According to Israeli medical law expert Yonatan Davies, Sharon "will only be considered dead when his heart stops beating."
Raanan Gissin, Sharon's former adviser and a close family friend, said Sharon exhibits no brain wave activity, but the family objects to disconnecting the respirator.
"Everyone in the family believes he will recover," Gissin said.
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Plan drafted by veteran politician would forfeit strategic West Bank
By Aaron Klein
Shimon Peres
JAFFA, Israel – Newly installed Israeli President Shimon Peres hopes to achieve the outline of a final status deal with the Palestinians before an international conference in November, the veteran politician said.
Israeli diplomatic sources told WND earlier this month Peres quietly drafted a plan for the Jewish state to evacuate and transfer to the Palestinians nearly the entire West Bank and several Arab Israeli cities located within territory that undisputedly is Israel's according to the international community.
The official role of president here is limited largely to ceremonial matters; the president is not allowed to lead foreign policy.
The diplomatic sources also said earlier this U.S.-brokered month biweekly meetings between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas are being utilized to draft the outline of a permanent status deal ultimately yielding a Palestinian state scheduled to be aired in public at the November summit, which is being organized by the U.S.
Confirming the plan, Peres told Tokyo's Nikkei business daily newspaper he believes the outline of a final deal can be achieved before November.
"To work out the details (of the ...   more »

By Bob Unruh
In Romans 13, the Bible instructs Christians to obey the government because God has placed it in power, but several experts and leaders, both historic and modern, have indicated that cannot be interpreted as an unqualified loyalty.
The issue arose after WND reported on a government program to train members of the clergy to be used to quell dissent in the case of a national emergency or disaster.
In that report, Durell Tuberville, chaplain of the Shreveport, La., Fire Department and the Caddo sheriff's office, and said the mission of such Clergy Response Teams would be to express the sentiment: "Let's cooperate and get this thing over with and then we'll settle the differences once the crisis is over."   
The Bible, he said, states "the government's established by the Lord, you know. And, that's what we believe in the Christian faith. That's what's stated in the Scripture."
Tony Perkins, chief of the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C., said it's certainly correct that Christians should obey the government, when the government is good.
But he said, "You have to realize the government has been undermining its very basis of support by trying to remove the Christian ...   more »

Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Yemen have launched the vast Trans-Arabia Oil Pipeline project with encouragement from Washington, DEBKA-Net Weekly 313 revealed on Aug. 10, 2007. By crisscrossing Arabia overland, the net of oil pipelines will bypass the Straits of Hormuz at the throat of the Persian Gulf and so remove Gulf oil routes from the lurking threat of Iranian closure.  
The 35,000-strong new Saudi security force, disclosed this week, will protect the new project, together with the oil installations of the world’s biggest oil exporter, from attack by such enemies as al Qaeda or Iran. The first 5,000 recruits are already in training, as plans advance to start laying the first section of the new pipeline system in November, 2007.
Because of the sensitivity of their mission, Saudi security experts assisted by American advisers are thoroughly screening each recruit about his family, tribal and past associations to weed out religious extremists. DEBKAfile adds that the new oil security force will be the third largest in Saudi Arabia, after the armed forces and the National Guard.
The first Trans-Arabia pipeline will carry 5 million barrels of oil a day, almost one third of the 17 ...   more »

Corn prices have jumped, fueled by ethanol demand, and Texas farmers have shifted their strategies accordingly
By Barry Shlachter
The Standerfer family works out in the field from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. or later. Despite a good corn crop, Johnny Standerfer says they face losses in wheat because of heavy rains.
 FRISCO -- Under a darkening sky, Cody Standerfer flips on his combine's headlights and steers it through a field that's a mere shouting distance from a new housing development and strip center with a doughnut shop, a florist and a stockbroker -- on land his father once farmed.
Ethanol-fueled demand for corn is being felt in this corner of Frisco, where Standerfer's family has planted 400 acres and where the 26-year-old battles traffic every morning to get his big green machine to leased land scattered around Texas' fastest-growing city.
"They hate us. I don't know how many times I get the finger," said Standerfer, laughing. "We've got to get to work, too. But the combine only goes 18 miles an hour."
Standerfer grew up in a rural-flavored community of 6,000 that has morphed into an affluent suburb of 78,000 about 26 miles north of Dallas. Although even more ...   more »

By Audrey Hudson
The Justice Department is co-sponsoring a convention held by the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) — an unindicted co-conspirator in an ongoing federal terrorist funding case — a move that is raising concerns among the Justice's rank and file.
Justice lawyers have objected to the affiliation with ISNA, fearing it will undermine the case against the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development in Dallas.
"There is outrage among lawyers that the Department of Justice is funding a group named as a co-conspirator in a terrorist financing case," said a Justice lawyer who spoke to The Washington Times on the condition of anonymity.
According to an e-mail from Susana Lorenzo-Giguere, acting deputy chief of the Voting Rights Division, the sponsorship will involve sending government lawyers to man a booth for the Labor Day weekend event in Illinois
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More than 90 percent of the Army's new recruits since late July have accepted a $20,000 "quick ship" bonus to leave for basic combat training by the end of September, putting thousands of Americans into uniform almost immediately.
Many recruits who take the bonus -- scoring in many cases the equivalent of more than a year's pay -- leave their homes within days, recruiters said. The initiative is part of an effort by Army officials to meet year-end recruiting goals after a two-month slump earlier this year. With the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, the Army hopes the extra cash motivates those interested in joining or entices those just considering enlisting.
The program began on July 25, and in three weeks the Army had enlisted 3,814 recruits using the bonus, according to the U.S. Army Recruiting Command in Fort Knox, Ky. Those recruits accounted for 92 percent of the 4,149 recruits who signed contracts between July 25 and Aug. 13.
The $20,000 bonus is a hefty sum for many of the individuals the Army targets most aggressively: young men and women who have not settled on a career. The Army estimates that soldiers coming out of initial training are paid ...   more »

Francis Elliott, Chief Political Correspondent
Senior social workers have given warning of the dangers posed by a new government register that will store the details of every child in England from next year.
They fear that the database, containing the address, medical and school details of all under-18s, could be used to harm the children whom it is intended to protect.
The Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ACDS) has written to officials outlining its “significant” concerns about the new system, called ContactPoint, The Times has learnt. Confusion over who is responsible for vetting users and policing the system “may allow a situation where an abuser could be able to access ContactPoint for illegitimate purposes with limited fear of any repercussions”, Richard Stiff, the chairman of the ADCS Information Systems and Technology Policy Committee, said.
The security fears are fuelled further by the admission that information about the children of celebrities and politicians is likely to be excluded from the system. ears raised over access to children's database
Integrity of child database questioned
The database, which goes live next year, is to contain details of every one of the 11 million children in the country, listing their name, address and ...   more »

By JOHN F.L. ROSS
Flames Devour Southern Greece 
  ANCIENT OLYMPIA, Greece (AP) - Firefighters backed by aircraft dropped water and foam on the birthplace of the ancient Olympics Sunday to stop wildfires from burning the 2,800-year-old ruins, one of the most revered sites of antiquity.
But the fires burning for three straight days obliterated vast swathes of the country and the death toll rose by 11 on Sunday to 60. New fires broke out faster than others could be brought under control. Desperate residents appealed through television stations for help from a firefighting service already stretched to the limit and many blamed authorities for leaving them defenseless.
"Fires are burning in more than half the country," said fire department spokesman Nikos Diamandis. "This is definitely an unprecedented disaster for Greece."
Government and firefighting officials have suggested arson caused many of the blazes, and several people had been arrested. The government offered a reward of up to $1.36 million for anyone providing information that would lead to the arrest of an arsonist.
Forest fires are common during Greece's hot, dry summers—but nothing has approached the scale of the last three days. Arson is often suspected, mostly to clear land for ...   more »