By Andrew Ward and Daniel Dombey in Washington
George W. Bush on Thursday stepped up pressure on the European Union and other governments to lift restrictions on genetically modified crops to help ease the crisis in global food supplies.
The US president said modified crops offered a ­partial solution to the food crisis gripping some parts of the world because of their high yields and resistance to drought and disease.
“These crops are safe,” he said, “and they hold the promise of producing more food for more people.”
The remarks came as Mr Bush proposed a fresh $770m (€498m, £390m) in food aid, in addition to the $200m in emergency aid announced two weeks ago.
If approved by Congress, the funds would increase total US food aid this year to $2.3bn, up from $2.1bn last year.
“We’re sending a clear message to the world: that America will lead the fight against hunger for years to come,” said Mr Bush.
Global food prices have increased by 43 per cent over the past year because of soaring demand from developing countries and droughts in Australia and other crop growing countries, according to the White House.
Decreased supply and rising prices have led to ...   more »

Hell hath no fury like a pastor scorned, as Barack Obama learned the hard way.
A month ago, when video snippets of Jeremiah Wright's more controversial sermons first popped up on cable television, Obama tried to take the high road. He gently distanced himself from Wright and compared his former black pastor to his white grandmother, while insisting he could never repudiate either one of them. Then, instead of responding to each of Wright's inflammatory remarks, Obama seized the occasion to call for a new national dialogue on race.
That may have placated most of Obama supporters, but it didn't sit well with Rev. Wright. He obviously felt betrayed by his adopted spiritual son. After all, he introduced Obama to Christianity, officiated at his marriage, baptized his daughters, blessed his house, prayed privately with him the morning Obama launched his campaign for president, and served as his spiritual adviser for the last 20 years. How could Obama suddenly treat him like a total stranger? Or, worse yet, like a beloved but crazy uncle – tolerated at the Thanksgiving dinner table, but never taken seriously?
In the Old Testament, the prophet Jeremiah laments: "Woe is me for my hurt! My wound ...   more »

(AP) -- Conservative Christian leaders who believe the word "evangelical" has lost its religious meaning plan to release a starkly self-critical document saying the movement has become too political and has diminished the Gospel through its approach to the culture wars. 
The declaration encourages Christians to uphold traditional marriage, as in this Massachusetts protest. 
The statement, called "An Evangelical Manifesto," condemns Christians on the right and left for using faith to express political views without regard to the truth of the Bible, according to a draft of the document obtained Friday by The Associated Press.
"That way faith loses its independence, Christians become 'useful idiots' for one political party or another, and the Christian faith becomes an ideology," according to the draft.
The declaration, scheduled to be released Wednesday in Washington, encourages Christians to be politically engaged and uphold teachings such as traditional marriage. But the drafters say evangelicals have often expressed "truth without love," helping create a backlash against religion during a "generation of culture warring."
"All too often we have attacked the evils and injustices of others," the statement says, "while we have condoned our own sins." It argues, "we must reform our own behavior."
The document is ...   more »

By Daniel J. Chacon, Rocky Mountain News
The Denver man, who sponsored an offbeat ballot initiative that would have required the city to implement stress-reduction techniques, now wants to ask voters to create a commission dealing with space aliens.
"It is important because if you're driving down the highway and you saw a crash of a small spaceship and a car or a bus full of kids, you really wouldn't know what to do," Peckman said Thursday. "Do you wait for the hazardous materials experts to show up because of potential contaminants from another solar system? What do you do? People really don't know."
Peckman, 54, who is single and lives with his parents, has submitted to the city a draft of the proposed ordinance, which would require the creation of an Extraterrestrial Affairs Commission.
As required, the city is holding a "review and comment" meeting on the proposed ballot initiative with Peckman on Thursday.
"I don't know what we're going to ask him yet," said David Broadwell, an assistant city attorney.
Peckman hopes to collect enough signatures - he needs about 4,000 - to get the proposed initiative on the November ballot.
According to the proposal, the 18-member ET ...   more »

Peter Fimrite, Chronicle Staff Writer
Salmon fishing was banned along the West Coast for the first time in 160 years Thursday, a decision that is expected to have a devastating economic impact on fishermen, dozens of businesses, tourism and boating.
Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez immediately declared a commercial fishery disaster, opening the door for Congress to appropriate money for anyone who will be economically harmed.
The closure of commercial and recreational fishing for chinook salmon in the ocean off California and most of Oregon was announced by the National Marine Fishery Service.
It followed the recommendation last month of the Pacific Fishery Management Council after the catastrophic disappearance of California's fabled fall run of the pink fish popularly known as king salmon.
It is the first total closure since commercial fishing started in the Bay Area in 1848.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency last month and sent a letter to President Bush asking for his help in obtaining federal disaster assistance. Schwarzenegger plans to appropriate about $5.3 million for coastal salmon and steelhead fishery restoration projects.
The disaster declaration allows state officials to work with Congress on obtaining appropriations for businesses and fishermen and women, some of ...   more »

Community Members Express Outrage at National Park Service Program On Friday April 11, a "Wailing Wall' was created on the historic Grandi building in Point Reyes Station, to protest the National Park Services program to exterminate the Fallow and Axis Deer herds from the Point Reyes National Seashore. The NPS labels the deer "non-native" yet they have been naturalized in the area for almost a century. The deer have lived in the Point Reyes and Olema Valley area long before the Point Reyes National Seashore was established, and have been loved by both visitors and residents alike for decades.
Over the last 3 years, thousands of people have expressed their outrage through multiple venues including petitions, newspaper polls, letters to the editor, articles, photo-journals, as well as letters and calls to our elected officials and the National Park Service. Despite the resounding outcry, the NPS has pushed this program through with military-like force.
Eighty percent of the people polled by the Marin IJ newspaper voted against this program. The public was told by the NPS that the extermination program would be carried out over the next 15 years and includes non-lethal management and opportunities for public discussion along the way. ...   more »

By GILLIAN FLACCUS,
SANTA ANA, Calif. - Federal authorities arrested a man accused of running an investment scheme that netted more than $25 million by targeting Christian investors nationwide.  
Jon G. Ervin, 61, of Mission Viejo, was arrested Friday on a charge of wire fraud. He later appeared in federal court, where he was ordered held on $1 million bail.
Ervin's public defender, Leon Peterson, didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.
Ervin was named Thursday in a criminal complaint filed in federal court. The same day, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed lawsuits against Ervin and his company, Safevest LLC, and obtained federal orders freezing their assets.
According to the criminal complaint, Ervin used Safevest to persuade victims to invest in a fake commodity futures trading program. Investors were told Safevest would use no more than 13 percent of their deposit in hundreds of commodity trades a day on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, with a guarantee of up to 1 percent in returns each day.
Investors could check their returns on a password-protected Web site that was run exclusively by Ervin. The program attracted about 550 investors, officials said.
Authorities allege ...   more »